ThingLink Spotlight! Lighting Up Immersive Learning with Francesco Piccolo

Louise Jones April 10, 2025

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!

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Introducing Francesco

I am a Technology teacher in a lower secondary school in the province of Caserta, where I hold the role of Digital Educator, supporting colleagues in integrating technologies into teaching. I am a Google Trainer, Coach and Innovator and I am part of the staff of the GEG Italia community, actively contributing to the dissemination of innovative learning methodologies.

I am an ambassador of various web apps, with a particular focus on those that exploit AR and VR technologies to create immersive and interactive experiences. As a trainer of K12 teachers and students, I design and implement innovative educational paths, integrating diversified methodologies and immersive environments to promote active and participatory learning. I strongly believe in the use of technologies to stimulate creativity, collaboration and critical thinking, making every educational experience more engaging and meaningful.

ThingLink occupies a key role in my training, thanks to its versatility. Its intuitiveness and ease of use make it accessible to students of all levels, from primary to secondary school. This tool allows you to create visual, interactive and engaging experiences, enriching the teaching and learning process. For this reason, it is a constant presence in my training paths.

Francesco’s ThingLink Project

A School Tour. My passion for using platforms like ThingLink was born precisely from its ability to make knowledge interactive and visually stimulating. Initially, I introduced it with my students in creating digital content that was not only informative, but also engaging.

What made it special?

One of the highlights was seeing how students, once they gained proficiency in using ThingLink, became more proactive in designing and sharing content, improving their engagement and interacting with study materials in a more dynamic and visual way. This led to greater interest and motivation in tackling complex topics, making their learning more autonomous and creative.

Francesco’s ThingLink GEG Italia Project

Why was it so special?

At the recent edtech show Didacta 2025 in Florence, amidst a whirlwind of commitments, workshops, and meetings, we took a moment to celebrate who we are: a group united by passion, sharing, and the desire to grow together.

And we did so with an image that perfectly captures our creative spirit.

That’s how OUR immersive image came to life—simple, yet rich in meaning: a group photo where each face is highlighted with a personal touch. Just click on each point to discover who we are, what we do, and what connects us. All of it is accompanied by background music that makes the experience even more engaging—and, yes, a little emotional too.

But this wasn’t just a digital exercise. It was a way to pause time, to give voice to the relationships we’ve built over the years—and that, in Florence, could finally reconnect in person.

As always, our traditional dinner (complete with the legendary Florentine steak!) brought the day to a joyful close, filled with laughter, shared stories, and the simple happiness of being together.

We also held a special thought for Bernadette Ferlazzo—a cornerstone of our group—who couldn’t be with us due to unforeseen commitments. Though she was physically distant, we made sure to include her in our ThingLink map. Because for us, no one is ever truly left out.

This experience reminded us that when technology meets the heart, it becomes a powerful tool for connection and memory.

Francesco’s Funny Anecdote!

One of the funniest anecdotes I share is about introducing augmented and virtual reality in the classroom. To explain these concepts to my students, I decided to use an AR app to make a dinosaur appear right in the middle of the room.

Imagine the scene: while I’m teaching a lesson, I activate the app and—suddenly—a huge dinosaur materializes in the classroom! The students are stunned—some scream in surprise, others are completely speechless, while a few try to understand how a dinosaur could possibly be standing there in front of them.

In that moment, I think to myself, “Well, we’ve just gone back to the Stone Age!” It’s a funny thought, especially considering I’m teaching technology—a subject all about the future, innovation, and progress. Yet in that exact moment, I feel the importance of not forgetting the past. Returning, even virtually, to the earliest days of humanity makes me reflect on how everything we do today, in technological terms, is rooted in what came before. Without that history—without those early developments—we wouldn’t be where we are now.

Since that day, whenever I talk about AR and VR with my students, they can’t help but recall that giant dinosaur that once invaded our classroom. And deep down, I think that dinosaur serves as a small reminder that technology is a journey—one that connects us to the past as much as it propels us into the future.

What do you love about using ThingLink?

What I love about ThingLink is its ability to turn learning into a visual, interactive experience. The ability to enrich images with links, videos, audio and other resources makes each content more dynamic and engaging. This not only stimulates students’ curiosity, but also promotes deeper learning, as students can explore content independently, asking questions and delving deeper into topics at their leisure.