How to Create Interactive Virtual Work Environments for School Students with ThingLink

Kyla Ball January 16, 2026

Background

Tankespirerne (translated as “Thought Sprouts”) is a Danish educational consultancy led by Martin Kongshave, elementary school teacher and practitioner of philosophy with children for nine years. Tankespirerne specialises in developing learning experiences that foster dialogue, critical thinking, and real-world engagement among students.

In line with Denmark’s national focus on innovation, entrepreneurship, and the “Open School” (Åben Skole) initiative, Tankespirerne works at the intersection of school education and the world of work. The Open School framework, introduced as part of the 2014 school reform, mandates collaboration between schools and local organisations to help students connect academic learning with real-life contexts and future career pathways.

To support this aim, Tankespirerne began developing interactive, scenario-based learning experiences using ThingLink, allowing students to explore realistic work environments that would otherwise be inaccessible to them.

Challenge

Many schools struggle to give students meaningful insight into the world of work. Physical visits to companies are not always practical, and traditional classroom materials often present work life in a simplified or linear way that does not reflect real-world complexity.

Tankespirerne wanted to:

• Provide authentic exposure to industries and workplaces for students aged 12–15
• Avoid gamification, as it shifts focus toward puzzle-solving and external motivational mechanics rather than authentic problem-solving, and instead. promote initiative, exploration, and problem-solving in an authentic setting. 
• Reflect how work tasks are often implicit, non-linear, and interconnected.
• Align with Denmark’s Open School mandate while remaining scalable and easy for teachers to implement.

The challenge was to design an experience that felt realistic, immersive, and pedagogically sound without relying on explicit instructions or game mechanics.

Solution

Tankespirerne is developing a series of interactive 360° “universes” using ThingLink, where students take on the role of employees in fictional companies. The approach places students inside a workplace scenario and asks them to navigate tasks as if they were new hires.

The second module, Nordic Denim Lab, is a startup simulation where students join a fictional jeans company. Aimed at 7th–8th grade students (ages 12–15), the experience is designed for students to work in pairs.

Key elements of the solution include:

• A 360° environment, which in reality was one single office room, staged and styled to resemble a denim manufacturer’s workplace
• Scenario-based challenges that are hinted at, rather than explicitly explained key processes, encouraging exploration and reasoning. Learners are required to observe, infer, explore, and connect information, closely mirroring professional practice.
• Non-linear navigation where students must connect information across different media types. 
• Embedded custom visuals created in Canva and original audio produced in Soundation, all integrated through ThingLink
• Realistic problem-solving tasks, such as responding to reviews, choosing suppliers, and developing a competition for a trade fair stand.
• Flexibility for teachers to add hands-on classroom activities, such as embroidery practice, alongside the virtual experience

Benefits

Tankespirerne’s ThingLink-powered simulations offer several clear benefits for both educators and students:

For students

• Access to industries and work environments they would otherwise never experience.
• A concrete understanding of what a real working day looks like and what it requires.
• First-hand experience of taking responsibility for meaningful tasks in a professional context.
• Insight into their current strengths, limitations, and ways they can contribute as workers.
• Development of initiative, collaboration, problem-solving, and confidence in relation to real job functions.
• Engagement through immersive, multimodal learning that simulates authentic work rather than school-based tasks.

For teachers and schools 

• A scalable way to meet Open School (Åben Skole) or similar vocational or careers-focussed requirements without extensive logistics or resources.
• Flexible virtual content that can be adapted and enriched with hands-on classroom activities.
• A versatile model that can be replicated across many industries, roles, and professions at relatively low cost.

Results

The first module, created in ThingLink, has already been experienced by more than 3,000 students and has received strong positive feedback from both teachers and learners. In this module, students take on the role of a recommendation algorithm, offering a more imaginative and exploratory form of work simulation that makes otherwise invisible processes visible by giving access to the “backstage” of digital labour.

The Nordic Denim Lab module has been tested in two 7th-grade classes, where teachers, external consultants, and pupils all responded very positively. Teachers in particular expressed enthusiasm and a clear intention to reuse the module and present it to colleagues. There is also active interest in expanding the project to additional schools within the same municipality.

Overall, Tankespirerne’s use of ThingLink demonstrates how immersive, scenario-based learning, ranging from imaginative simulations to more concrete work scenarios, can help students explore what it means to perform work, understand their role as contributors, and gradually build understanding and confidence in relation to real working life.

Extending the Model to Vocational Schools and Colleges

The ThingLink-based 360° simulation model developed by Tankespirerne can be extended to create direct, meaningful connections between schools and real workplaces. By developing simulations based on actual work environments, students gain access to how work is organised, experienced, and carried out in practice — even when physical access is not possible.

This approach is well suited for vocational education and training (VET) programmes and college-level courses, where insight into real job functions, workflows, and professional expectations is essential. As a scalable model, it also holds potential as an entry point to broader municipal initiatives that aim to strengthen collaboration between education providers and local industries.

Benefits for Vocational Schools and Colleges

For learners

• Earlier and deeper exposure to authentic workplace environments
• Improved career clarity and motivation through realistic role exploration
• Development of transferable skills such as initiative, collaboration, critical thinking, and self-directed learning
• Reduced anxiety when transitioning into apprenticeships, internships, or employment

For educators and institutions

• A scalable way to strengthen school–industry links without depending on constant physical access to workplaces
• Support for practice-oriented pedagogy and competency-based learning
• Flexible content that can be reused, updated, and customised for different professions and levels
• Alignment with national and international goals around employability, innovation, and entrepreneurship (in Denmark)

For employers and partners

• Better-prepared students entering placements or apprenticeships
• Reduced onboarding time, as learners already understand basic workflows and expectations
• Opportunities to showcase industries, roles, and career pathways in an engaging, accessible, but realistic way

By extending this immersive ThingLink-based approach to vocational schools and colleges, institutions can offer learners meaningful, realistic preparation for working life and bridge the gap between education and employment in a way that is cost-effective, engaging, and pedagogically robust.