Miro helps you structure visual learning activities in which students generate ideas, organise information and coordinate project work in one shared digital space. You can use boards, sticky notes, templates, diagrams, frames and AI-supported features to guide collaboration in online, hybrid and face-to-face teaching. You can prepare the board in advance, invite students to contribute in real time, and use the board itself to support both the activity and your facilitation of it.
- Functions
- Brainstorm | Create materials | Group collaboration
- Via Canvas
- Standalone
- Difficulty of use
- Moderate
Examples of use in your education
Use Miro when you want students to produce many ideas quickly and make them visible in one shared space.
You can apply this tool in your teaching in several concrete ways:
Shared brainstorming - Ask students to add ideas, examples or questions to one board during seminars, workshops or project sessions when you want to collect a wide range of possible starting points.
Silent input - Use sticky notes or simple board sections when you want all students to contribute individually before open discussion begins. This is especially useful when you want to prevent the first few voices in the room from shaping the direction too early.
Hybrid contribution - Use one shared board when some students are in the room and others join remotely, so everyone contributes to the same early idea phase.
Post-brainstorm summary - Use Miro’s AI after the first idea round when you want a quick summary or first grouping of student input before the class moves into a more deliberate discussion or clustering phase. This keeps the AI feature clearly in service of the transition out of brainstorming, rather than replacing the independent generation of ideas.
Tip 1
Give students a clear contribution format, for example one idea per note, so the board stays readable during the first idea phase.
Tip 2
Use AI mainly after students have already generated ideas themselves, so the tool helps you summarise the first round without taking over the initial thinking process.
Use Miro when you want students to organise ideas, identify patterns or make relationships between concepts visible.
You can apply this tool in your teaching in several concrete ways:
Concept mapping - Build a concept map yourself when you want to explain relationships visually, or ask students to extend the map when the learning task is to make those relationships explicit. This is particularly useful when abstract concepts need to be turned into visible connections.
Theme clustering - Ask students to group and sort existing contributions when they need to identify categories, patterns or priorities across a topic, case or reading. Here the focus is no longer on generating input, but on interpreting and organising it.
Diagram templates - Use templates such as mind maps, concept maps, canvases or timelines when students need a visual format that helps them organise content and make conceptual relationships clearer. The product manager specifically highlighted the template library as one of Miro’s major strengths.
Comparative overview - Use the large canvas when students need to compare alternatives, examples or models side by side without being limited to a fixed page size.
Tip 1
Choose one visual format that clearly fits the learning task, so students spend their effort on analysing the content rather than inventing a structure. If a template helps students see the conceptual task more clearly, use it; if it distracts, keep the board simpler.
Tip 2
Use labels, colour coding or clearly named sections when students need to distinguish between categories, examples or stages of analysis.
Use Miro when you want to guide students through a longer activity in clearly separated phases instead of letting them work on one open board without structure.
You can apply this tool in your teaching in several concrete ways:
Framed workflow - Divide the board into frames or slide-like sections when you want students to move step by step through an activity, for example from instructions to brainstorming to analysis to outcomes. The product manager explicitly compared this use to working with slides in PowerPoint.
Instruction frames - Use one frame for the task, one for the working phase and one for outcomes when students need a very clear overview of what to do at each stage.
Longer sessions - Use frames in workshops or more complex assignments when students need help staying oriented across multiple steps and not losing track of where they are in the process.
Presentation mode - Use frames when you want to present the board in a guided sequence, so Miro functions not only as a workspace but also as a structured route through the activity.
Tip 1
Give each frame a clear title, so students know exactly what is expected in each step of the activity.
Tip 2
Set up the frames before the session begins, so students spend their time working on the task rather than trying to interpret the structure while they are already in it.
Use Miro when students need to coordinate tasks, map out a process or keep track of responsibilities over time in a shared project.
You can apply this tool in your teaching in several concrete ways:
Project planning - Ask students to map tasks, deadlines or dependencies on a shared board when they need an overview of the project workflow.
Work sequencing - Use Miro when groups need to arrange steps, priorities or milestones before they begin producing a final output.
Responsibility mapping - Use the board to assign roles, decision points or ownership of specific tasks when groups need clarity about who is doing what during the project, not just a place to collect ideas. This makes the board function as a coordination tool rather than as a generic shared workspace.
Progress review - Revisit the same board during supervision or project meetings to check what has been decided, what is still open and which next steps the group has agreed on.
Tip 1
Set up a simple planning structure before students begin, so group time is spent on decisions and coordination rather than on building the board itself.
Tip 2
Ask groups to summarise their board at key moments, and build in short check-in points where they reflect on progress, collaboration or next steps, so the board supports actual coordination rather than becoming a storage space for unfinished notes.
How-to videos
How to get started with Miro
How to run more productive workshops and meetings
How to transform unstructured ideas into polished deliverables
Getting started
- You can find all the relevant information on the official site of Miro.
- Miro Academy offers short courses, videos and webinars that help you learn the basics and apply Miro more effectively in teaching, for example for collaboration, brainstorming and project work with students.
Support
In case of educational questions, please contact your learning innovator or web team from your faculty.
In case of technical difficulty, please consult the Miro Help Centre.
If your institution works with a local Miro administrator, you can also contact that person for help with access, settings and getting started with the platform in education.
For EUR, the Miro administrator is Robert Kwakkel, who can be reached at robert.kwakkel@eur.nl. The product manager specifically recommended looking at Miro Academy first for explanations and basic knowledge.
