Sunday, February 6, 2011

Answergarden : students’ brainstorming tool

AnswerGarden  is an online answer collection tool. It is a “ minimalistic feedback” application . It can be used in the classroom to brainstorm ideas about a given topic or to collect answers to certain questions. AnswerGarden can also be embedded in your own blog,website, or a wiki. It is a very practical way for teachers to establish the knowledge level of a class on a certain subject.

 

Some features of AnswerGarden

Let’s go through some of the features AnswerGarden offers to its users to better understand how to use this web2.0 tool in your classroom.

AnswerGarden is a free application and does not need any registration, yet a password is recommended so that you can edit your AnswerGarden contents later.

  • It has a simple and easy to use interface
  • AnswerGarden can be embedded in websites, wikis, blogs
  • It can be used with students under 13
  • It can be used as a poll or guestbook
  • AnswerGarden can be shared with others through emails and social websites.
  • It can also be used for digital brainstorming sessions.

 

answergarden

 

 

How can I start using AnswerGarden ?

Go to AnswerGarden main page and click on “ create AnswerGarden” button

 

answergarden

 

Now type in your question or topic and hit “ create” . You will be directed to your newly created AnswerGarden , and since you have just posted your topic , your AnswerGarden will look empty. The next step is to share your AnswerGarden by emailing a direct link to your students, colleagues etc, or you can embed the generated code into your website or blog and collect feedback from your visitors.

 

answergarden

 

If you want you can provide a password for your garden so that you can edit it later.

You can also specify whether you want to turn on the Unlimited Answering option. Now that your AnswerGarden is created and ready for use , click on “ save”.

 

answergarden

 

Note here : Answers are organized in the form of a word cloud and when a student posts the same answer that word will grow bigger.

Here is an example of a nicely growing AnswerGarden

answergarden

 

To learn more about this web2.0 tool you need to read their About AnswerGarden

 

Applications of AnswerGarden in education

There are many ways we can use AnswerGarden in our classrooms.

As for students, they can use it to :

  • Post answers to questions entering their own text answers
  • Brainstorm ideas about a certain topic
  • Plan and work together
  • Pose open-ended reflective questions on classroom blog or website.

As for teachers , they can use AnswerGarden to :

  • Host a classroom poll
  • Collect students answers around a certain topic
  • Practice certain study areas like : writing, vocabulary, and grammar.

That’s it about AnswerGarden

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