AnswerGarden

AnswerGarden is a free online tool used to get feedback and brainstorm online.  

As students enter ideas a word cloud will form that you (you can export and print later)

AnswerGarden can be used on any device with a browser and there is even a free IOS app.

Some Ideas for Use

• Get to know you activity
• Posting answers to simple math questions
• Brainstorming
• Survey students about prior knowledge
• Pose a Driving Question
• Collect ideas and opinions
• Look for adjectives that describe a character in a book
• Use as a polling tool (bigger words most popular)
• Exit Ticket
• Your idea

Here’s how it works:

Go to the AnswerGarden website and select Create AnswerGarden

Type a question in the box that appears

You also have the following options available

Change the mode

• Brainstorm: the audience can enter an unlimited number of answers, including unlimited copies of the same answer
• Classroom: the audience can enter an unlimited number of answers, but they can enter each answer only once
• Moderator: you have to manually approve each answer before it is added to the Answer Garden
• Locked: the Answer Garden is closed and no new comments can be submitted

I like the “Brainstorm” mode.

Change the answer length:

Choose to allow answers of 20 or 40 characters in length.

Additional Options

Password and Reminder E-mail

• These options are useful If you want the ability to delete unwanted answers (not required though).
• You may want to uncheck the newsletter box if you choose to have the password and link e-mailed to you.
• As you can see there is also a Spam Filter - which I have never used.
• Click here  to find out more about “Local Discoverability” - (I have never used)

Now choose

Then copy the url in the address bar and paste to Google Classroom, Blog, Website, etc.

You can also click the Share button (bottom right) to access a variety of social media sharing options or to embed the AnswerGarden into your class website or blog.

If you click on the  a new window will open up for additional and convenient share options.

Some tips

• New answers do not automatically appear in the Answer Garden; refresh the page periodically to see new answers.
• Words that appear larger in the AnswerGarden indicate multiple responses of that word (most popular)
• Inappropriate answer appear? Walk around the room. When someone posts something, the answer is underlined on their computer/device - this will help you find the person with the inappropriate response.

Export as and Download as Image

Choosing Export gives you the following options

Choose Download image to save the word cloud for later use.  (The image can be used as evidence in Evernote!)

Here is what an AnswerGarden looks like

One more thing - there is also a free iOS app