When we all separated from our campuses this year due to the pandemic many of us had to scramble to find alternative digital options for analog teaching tools in both STEM and information literacy classrooms. One of those tools is whiteboarding. STEM students often need a way to collaborate in and out of the classroom to envision and apply concepts. Instructors also need methods to scaffold their lectures with active learning in order to reinforce learning outcomes.

I came across Miro.com in Spring 2019 when I was tasked with helping to brainstorm the navigation menu for a website along with 5 other colleagues. I had been thinking of ways that I could translate my information literacy instruction from in-person to online instruction for the coming Fall 2020 semester. As I used Miro, it occurred to me that it would allow me to easily translate the active learning portions of my library instruction where I would normally have students break into groups to use a white board. So, first, let me tell you a little bit about Miro.

What is Miro?

Miro dubs itself as, “an online visual collaboration platform for teamwork” – and it does just that. Users can create a whiteboard space where they can concept map, brainstorm, create workflows, diagram and many other things. These team-work whiteboard spaces can be useful for both undergraduate and graduate level students in all subjects who may need to brainstorm their research topic, build out a statement using a framework like PICO, collaborate in a group to visualize a project, evaluate an article or other resource, work out an equation, or build out the workflow for a process, program or application.

Limitations and Cost

As budgets are being slashed across universities and households worldwide due to the pandemic, it’s important to note that all users who have a free account can work on only three (3) editable boards and will have access to pre-made boards, core tools and have the ability to allow anonymous board viewers. This means that whether you are a student working on a group project or an instructor, if you are planning on using a free account, you will need to make sure that all participants have first signed up for a free Miro account in order to actively edit, add elements and leave comments on your boards. Anonymous editing, which allows for users to view and edit boards without a Miro account is only available through the paid-for subscriptions (Team, Business and Enterprise levels) which start at $8 a month.

I found that as a teaching librarian providing one-shot instruction, it was easier for me to pay this minimum amount for a Team account so that I could build out my active learning board in Miro, then simply provide a link to it in my asynchronous session, rather than trying to wrangle students into creating a free account before visiting my online classroom. However, STEM students working in groups for a project in a semester-long class or a STEM instructor working with the same cohort all semester may find that requiring students to sign up for a free Miro account during the first week of the semester may be the best way to go to reduce cost and give students time to adjust to the platform. If your institution has the funding, it may be worthwhile to explore obtaining an Enterprise level account.

Using Miro in the Classroom

So, what does it look like to use Miro in a classroom setting? As mentioned earlier, as a teaching librarian, I am afforded limited time with the students in a classroom setting (typically 30-75 minutes), so I want to try to make the most of the time we have together to ensure that the concepts I am covering are both heard and applied in a meaningful way.

One of the most common topics for information literacy instruction is concept mapping. Concept mapping allows students to organize thoughts and ideas in a visually constructive space in order to conceptualize a project or idea and draw connections. Concept mapping is typically used for library instruction to help demonstrate how to build out and narrow a research topic, then collect keywords and phrases which can be used to apply across searches in databases and search engines using advanced search techniques.

An example of this can be seen in a session that I teach called, Refining Your Research Topic which allows students to learn core information literacy concepts while applying those strategies in real time as a group. In Miro, I create a space with a basic structure where they can build out a concept map together using a framework such as the 5Ws (who, what, when, where, and why) or PICO (Patient, Problem or Population – Intervention – Comparison, Control, Comparator – Outcome). Creating the structure prior to the session allows for a swift transition from introduction to the platform to active participation. I typically allow 10-15 minutes to complete all three steps of the activity (Figure 1) which includes mapping out a topic, creating a research statement from the map, then gathering and building out keywords and phrases found in the concept map.

The next active learning portion is to practice searching using the keywords and phrases along with advanced tools such as Boolean, truncation and exact phrase searching. I often find that as students get into the concept map, they enjoy being able to work together, have basic tools as their disposal such as sticky notes, text editing and connector lines, and appreciate being able to see updates in real time without getting in each other’s way as one might in a Google document.

Students have provided feedback that they felt that using Miro was helpful to be able to visualize their topic and work together in a group, while a handful of students have mentioned that they were distracted by the movement of the other students editing on the screen. Overall, while some students may have difficulty focusing while using the Miro platform in groups of 10 or more, Miro can be an effective and inexpensive tool for replacing the whiteboard experience in your STEM classrooms and for small group work.

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