ThingLink’s Finnish team continues to grow as Henri Pennanen joins the team to lead new content production initiatives for education and workforce development. We’ve had the pleasure to collaborate with Henri already in several projects that involved virtual tour and course creation for teacher training and skills development, and are very happy about him now joining ThingLink full time! In this interview, we asked Henri about teacher training; its current challenges and opportunities.
Henri Pennanen joins ThingLink to build new models for interactive content production and teacher training
Topics: virtual reality, edtech, workplace learning, corporate training, digital skills, training, future skills, teacher training
ThingLink and University of Helsinki Announce Multi-Year Agreement
ThingLink and the University of Helsinki have agreed on a partnership that brings rich media images, interactive video lessons and virtual tours to the largest university in Finland.
Topics: virtual reality, 360photos, virtual tour, 21st century learning, edtech, partners, distance learning, remote learning, video lessons, digital storytelling, digital skills, teaching
ThingLink licenses for eLearning and education are now globally available via Microsoft Cloud Solution Providers (CSP)
ThingLink eLearning and education licenses have this week become available via Azure Marketplace, Azure Portal, and AppSource. This means Microsoft Cloud Solution Providers can now sell ThingLink to their customers and create bundled solutions. ThingLink will provide Microsoft resellers and their customers support with training so that partners in the CSP program are equipped to handle ThingLink related requests from customers.
Topics: virtual reality, education, corporate learning, eLearning, Government, partners, TVET
TVET in the cloud: ThingLink and OEP showcase a virtual course creator with chatbot
One of the most interesting application areas for virtual lessons and visual learning environments is technical and vocational education and training (TVET). Examples that we have so far seen from ThingLink users include interactive user manuals, simulations, virtual campus tours, introductions to working environments, safety drills and teacher training. These examples and several discussions with customers and potential partners have inspired us to think about the next step for TVET and online learning, and the ways in which 360 degree learning environments in the cloud can cost-efficiently improve access to quality education and increase instructional time in real-world working environments.
Topics: virtual reality, virtual tour, gender equality, edtech, eLearning, New Feature, partners, TVET
THINGLINK WINS THE UNESCO ICT IN EDUCATION PRIZE WITH A VISION OF A GLOBAL VIRTUAL SCHOOL
ThingLink has been selected as one of the two winners of the 2018 UNESCO King Hamad Bin Isa-Al Khalifa Prize for the use of ICT in Education. The Prize awards individuals and organizations that are carrying out outstanding projects leveraging new technologies to expand educational and lifelong learning opportunities. The laureates of the Prize receive international recognition as an innovative example of the use of ICT in education worldwide, as well as a diploma and a monetary award of USD 25,000.
Topics: virtual reality, 21st century learning, special education, cultural preservation
ThingLink launches Women’s Rights 360° Virtual Field Trip
In celebration of International Women’s Day, ThingLink has created a series of interactive 360 stories highlighting information about education, healthcare, social justice, as well as women’s economic and political participation globally. The goal of the project is to help educators, students or parents address complex topics such as global gender equality with a new kind of immersive learning experience. The stories are narrated by women from around the world and can be viewed by anyone on desktop, smartphone or with mobile VR headsets such as Google Cardboard or Samsung Gear VR.
Topics: virtual reality, education, 360photos, international women's day, gender equality, immersive learning, 21st century learning, women's rights
ThingLink and 360Cities Launch a Global 360 Photo Service For Virtual Reality Marketing
We are excited to announce a partnership with 360Cities.net, the world’s largest network of 360 photographers. As ThingLink’s technology lets users drive engagement with annotated 360-degree photos that can include text, image, audio, and video as well as custom widgets for e-commerce, 360Cities’ worldwide network of panorama photographers can in turn be called upon to capture any place or space around the globe.
Topics: virtual reality, VR, 360photos
ThingLink launches Virtual Reality Lessons App For Education
We are excited to launch VR Lessons, our first virtual reality content app. The app is designed for elementary school students, their teachers and parents.
VR Lessons by ThingLink is a collection of interactive, 360° image and video journeys on a variety of topics including science, language, and arts. The first stories take students to visit different kinds of ecosystems from the French Alps to a jungle in the archipelago of northern Australia. As students turn their heads to look around, they can spot details and unlock additional information of each habitat in a narrated virtual reality environment.
Topics: virtual reality, VR, ThingLink app, education, VR Lessons
ThingLink Raises New Round - Expands to Mobile VR
At a time when 360 and VR content is seeing exponential growth, we are happy to announce that ThingLink has just closed $1.3M in new funding to expand our SaaS offering to virtual reality annotation. Among the investors are Inventure Oy, Steelhead Ventures as well as Run Capital, led by Andrey Romanenko, founder of global payment service, QIWI.
Topics: Interactive video, Visual Web, virtual reality, VR