Mural is a visual collaboration tool backed by the power of Microsoft. As such, this is widely used in some of the largest companies worldwide and has become really well refined, making it a useful tool for use in education.
Since Mural is rich in features, yet easy to use, it can be a useful way for teachers and students to be together in a digital space. So it can be useful, for example, in a reverse classroom, but also in a traditional one, where students can follow a presentation on their own devices and even interact.
So Mural is what you need?
What is Mural?
Mural (opens in new tab) is a digital collaborative whiteboard area that can be accessed via a web browser on almost any device and is completely free to use for the basic version. This can serve as an interactive workspace or as an access point for students.
Mural works as a slideshow presentation tool where students and teachers can build from templates to present to “the space”, which is a defined space that people can be in or not.
The idea is to offer video-based slide shows that can be seen by anyone, but which also allow you to edit live while in the room, as if they were in the room together, even when this is not the case. Many templates are offered, but most are business-focused, but there are some that are specifically tailored for education. Either way, all of these can be fully edited.
Useful, and as you might expect from Microsoft, there is a lot of integration with Mural and other platforms, including Slack, Microsoft Teams and Google Calendar, to name a few.
How does Mural work?
Mural is free to sign up and is very easy to start using, especially if you already have a Microsoft account. Although it works online, using a browser, it can also be downloaded in app form for most devices.
Mural is a great tool for the inverted classroom or for distance learning, but it can also be used in the room with students when presenting to everyone’s units. There are useful tools for live feedback as you work through the presentation, but more on that in the next section.
This is very easy to use, so it can be a tool for students to work with, so they can collaborate and create presentations together from their own home – which provides good social learning even outside of school hours.
What are the best Mural features?
Mural has a large selection of live feedback features. This includes the ability to take a vote, which is anonymous, at any time – a great way to monitor how students follow when, for example. working through a new topic.
Summon is a particularly useful teaching feature that allows you to bring all students back to the same part of the presentation so you know everyone is looking at the same thing at the same time.
Outline is another key feature for teachers as it allows them to notify what is next time without revealing exactly what is ahead. Complemented with a timer option, this provides a very clearly controlled layout.
Super Lock is a useful way to lock certain objects so that only the teacher can edit. This gives students the freedom to interact with other parts by knowing that they are allowed to make changes or provide feedback where and when allowed. On the back of it, there is Private Mode, which stops individuals from contributing by hiding what they are adding that you might need.
Sharing, commenting and even live text chat are all options in Mural. You can also voice chat, if necessary, a useful opportunity for students working on a project externally together.
The ability to draw freehand or use stickers and moving pictures gives everyone a very open board that can be changed live while the lesson is being taught. But with the benefit of still having access to rich media such as GIFs, videos, images and other elements.
How much does mural cost?
Mural is available to use for the basic package. This gives you three murals and unlimited number of members.
Upgrade to Hold + lag at $ 9 per member per month and you get unlimited Murlas, privacy checks for rooms, in-app chat and email support plus the option of monthly billing.
There are also Business and Enterprise plans, but these are more focused on business use.
Mural best tips and tricks
Couple of projects
Have students form pairs and set them the task of making a presentation project that they can share with the class. This will teach them to collaborate externally, communicate and build together, while hopefully also creating something useful for the rest of the class to learn from.
Build live
Use the tool to build a presentation with the class so they can learn to use Mural, but also teach the content of the presentation as you work through it.
Become anonymous
Set up an open project where everyone has the freedom to express themselves, and then let them submit anonymously. This will help even more shy students to be expressive and share with the class.
