ThingLink Spotlight! Lighting Up Immersive Learning with Licia Landi

Louise Jones January 13, 2026

ThingLink Luminaries is a series of guest blog posts highlighting certified trainers who are creating interactive and immersive experiences to make learning more engaging, accessible, and meaningful. Our educators and learning designers bring a thoughtful approach to immersive learning, and their work reflects a deep commitment to creativity, pedagogy, and innovation.

In each profile post, we’ll explore their background, teaching philosophy, and favorite ThingLink projects offering insight into how they’re making a lasting impact in their classrooms, organizations and communities! Enjoy!

Introducing Licia!

My name is Licia Landi and I teach Educational Technologies and Media Education at the University of Verona (Italy). I began my career teaching Italian and Classics in an Italian classical high school, and over time my work has moved towards digital teaching methodologies, educational technologies, and artificial intelligence in education, with a particular interest in applying them to projects in Classics, Italian literature, and cultural heritage.

For more than twenty-five years, I have been involved in teacher education and professional development, working with both pre-service and in-service teachers, and I actively engage in educational research at university level. I am particularly interested in how digital tools and interactive media can enhance learning, teaching, and assessment, which is why I am excited to be part of the ThingLink community and to share ideas and practices with educators from different backgrounds.

Licia’s 3D ThingLink Project

This ThingLink project, “Exploring the Middle Ages through the Baptismal Font of San Giovanni in Fonte in Verona”, is an interactive 3D exploration of the medieval baptismal font in Verona.

Using a detailed 3D model enriched with hotspots, the project allows learners to explore the artifact from every angle and to attach their own research, interpretations, and written analyses directly to the hotspots, creating layered content that connects historical, artistic, symbolic, and literary perspectives. Originally developed with a 11th-grade class, it is now shared as a model for cultural heritage education and teacher training. The project has been translated into English so that it can be enjoyed by an international audience.

What inspired you?

The project was inspired by the desire to make medieval cultural heritage more accessible, engaging, and meaningful for students. ThingLink was chosen for its ability to combine immersive 3D exploration with student-centered storytelling through hotspots. The creation process is explicitly constructivist: students actively research sources, interpret artworks and texts, select and organize information, and transform their findings into original digital content embedded directly in the 3D model. This approach turns exploration into active knowledge-building, allowing students to take ownership of their learning.

How was the project experienced?

The project was implemented as an inquiry-based learning experience, guided by a clear learning scenario. Students developed a deeper and more integrated understanding of the artwork, enhanced by the interactive 3D environment which supported observation, analysis, and long-term retention.

They also strengthened key skills such as critical thinking, cultural awareness, and digital literacy by producing interactive content themselves. Because of its positive impact, the project is now used in teacher training as an example of how 3D models and hotspots can transform cultural heritage from a static object into an immersive, student-generated learning experience.

What do you love about ThingLink?

What I love about using ThingLink is how it transforms a static artifact into an interactive, student-driven experience.

Students can attach their own research, reflections, and multimedia content to hotspots, making learning visible and collaborative. It supports differentiated learning, allowing students to follow personalized paths at their own pace, while still engaging in a shared, structured activity. From a teacher’s perspective, ThingLink allows the creation of rich, layered learning experiences easily, while giving immediate insight into how students interpret and construct knowledge.

Do you have any other projects in development?

I have experimented with many ThingLink projects in the classroom and with teachers in training over more than 12 years, exploring a variety of themes and approaches, from visual glossaries and storytelling to immersive 360° environments, Italian and Latin escape rooms, cultural heritage projects, and synesthetic poetry artifacts.

Next, I plan to create a collaborative map of Verona’s medieval heritage, where students can virtually visit monuments and share narratives about local history, art, and literature. In the future, I dream of fully immersive, multimedia journeys that combine 3D models, historical texts, audio storytelling, AI, and augmented reality, allowing students to explore cultural heritage as if traveling through time and space.

Licia’s Fun Fact!

Even after 12 years of ThingLink projects, I still feel like a kid exploring a new digital adventure every time I begin a project.

Thank You Licia!

You can connect with Licia onLinkedIn or Facebook.