Miro is a collaborative app that makes creating and presenting information easier and more fun than many other options currently available.
Miro’s setup is unlike any other, combining so many aspects. Yes, it’s a presentation tool, much like a virtual whiteboard, but it’s also a flowchart maker, mind mapper, diagrammer, video conferencing tool, and much more. The fact that it’s now used by 99% of Fortune 100 companies is a credit to how well it works.
For use in education, Miro offers educators a variety of ways to view information in class, but it is also a great collaborative tool that students can use for their projects.
This guide explains everything you need to know about Miro to see if it could work well in your classroom.
What is Miro?
He looked Miro is an online tool that combines many features into one tool that is, fundamentally, easy to use. Imagine something that allows you to make presentations, create images, create charts, conduct video conferences, show flowcharts, and much more, all while collaborating. It sounds complicated, but this does it all while making everything intuitive. This in itself is a big part of what makes Miro special.
Because it is a web-based tool, it can be accessed immediately and easily by many people, as it can be used with a web browser from almost any internet-connected device. Miro is designed to offer project management, making it a great collaborative space not only for teachers, but also for students working together.
Miro also has app versions for Windows, Mac, iOS and Android, offering an easy-to-install option that runs natively on the device it's optimized for.
How does Miro work?
Miro requires you to sign up for an account before you can access it, either through a browser or the app for your specific device. Some helpful tips to get started and the ability to add colleagues to collaborate with are available from the start. You can then start working on what are called “boards.”
Fortunately, you don't have to create a board from scratch, as the options are vast. There are plenty of templates available for you to choose from, which can help you get started much quicker and with some structure. It's helpful that each one is illustrated with a clear guide on how the templates work and what you can use and edit.
Boards are presented in the saved workspace, which can be organized as needed and searched for specific information. A board is fairly intuitive, with the ability to edit using a toolbar on the left, change options with a settings section on the top left, and collaborate on the top right with options like voting, chat, and video calling.
What are the best features of Miro?
Miro is intuitive to use and allows you a wide variety of ways to create, helpfully placed within templates to make this less overwhelming when starting out or if you're in a hurry.
Some useful tools include mind maps, timelines, flowcharts, story frames, and visual boards. You can also take notes on what you're doing and add comments, which is particularly useful when working in a team and especially if you're not in person at the time.
The Smart Drawing feature is great for getting a professional finish even if you don't have much image creation and editing skills. It can detect rough hand-drawn shapes and arrange them to fit, such as adding arrows and circles, so they have a more polished finish.
You can integrate other apps to create your board, incorporating images, videos, emojis, GIFs, stickers, code blocks, Google Images, tables, and more. Connectivity goes even further with third-party apps that also work within the tool, including Google Drive, Dropbox, and OneDrive.
The Talktrack feature can be useful in education, as it uses your device's camera and microphone to show your face in a corner and then follows the mouse movement with a visual arrow. This is an ideal way to provide tours, either in the room or as a recording, for students to follow along with when they need to.
How much does Miro cost?
Miro offers several pricing tiers, including a free option.
He Free The version gives you a single workspace with three editable boards, five Talktracks, over 2,500 community-created templates, over 100 apps and integrations, and five ai credits per month.
He Starting motor level, in $8/month/membergives you a single workspace with unlimited boards, unlimited visitors on public boards, unlimited Talktracks, unlimited project folders, private mode, board version history, timer, voting, video chat, custom templates, private boards, high-quality exports, and 25 ai credits per month.
He Business level, in $16/month/membergives you unlimited boards for each team and client, unlimited guests on private and team boards, 2500+ advanced diagramming shapes, a scheduler, connecting apps, outage and voting controls, SSO, and 50 ai credits per month.
He Company Options are charged at a custom rate with more administrative controls and even greater depth of features.
Miro's Best Tips and Tricks
Teaching together
Collaborate as a department to create and share templates that can be edited to fit individual lessons or certain topics, and reused over the years.
Student Construction
Have students work on projects in groups, collaborating in class and online, before presenting the lesson to the class as a group using the tool.
Construction Guides
Use the Talktrack feature to create and save step-by-step guides as a way for students to learn in advance of a new topic or receive guidance when they need it outside of class time.
