Answer Garden

For Module 5 I chose to review Answer Garden, which is a feedback web 2.0 tool that can be accessed at www.answergarden.ch
.ch means that it is a Swiss site.

Answer Garden is a very minimilistic feedback tool. It is designed to pose a question and receive feedback from an audience. It can be used to brainstorm, poll, or used as a guestbook.

In order to use Answer Garden, you just need a computer with interent connection. Answer Garden is so easy and simple that you do not need any special skills to use it.

First, log on to the internet and connect to the URL I listed above. There is no registration or log in needed, which I can see would pose some problems and have listed below.  Answer Garden is free for everyone.

To get started, click on "Create an AnswerGarden". Next, just type in a topic or question you want feedback to in the box provided. You can choose to customize your feedback by allowing or disallowing unlimited answers, and adding an administrative password to moderate the feedback you receive. I would highly recommend adding a password. After you have customized your questions, click on create. Your question will generate and now you can share with your audience.

Below your question there are multiple options for you to share. You can share your question on Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and many other places that I haven't even heard of. The website also gives you the HTML embed code if you would like to embed your question into a website or blog.

There is a beta version which allows you to customize color options, border options, and answer box size. I tried it out and have included both versions of the regular generated question, and my customized question. This feature is nice if you are embedding it into a website or blog and want to keep the colors consistent. However, it is a beta version and very minimalistic.
Regular Generated Question
What is your favorite color?... at AnswerGarden.ch.
Customized Question
What is your favorite color?... at AnswerGarden.ch.

At first I had some trouble thinking of how I could use this tool in an educational setting. I came up with a few ideas:

• When learning about synonyms, or antonyms, teachers could pose this question, and students could respond. Then the results could be used to help during writing.

What are some other words you could use instead of big?... at AnswerGarden.ch.

• When trying to brainstorm ideas for a project, or dance, or party, the question could be posted on a school wesbite and allow students to respond.
What theme do you want for the 8th grade dance?... at AnswerGarden.ch.

• When learning about adjectives, a teacher could post a question about how to describe a food and students could answer by providing an adjective for that food
What adjectives can you use to describe popcorn?... at AnswerGarden.ch.

These ideas are pretty simple and very generic. I would love to hear if you have any better ideas or how teachers could use this in their classroom.

Answergarden has 3 huge disadvantages. One is that responses are limited to only 20 characters, so answers are truly limited to one or 2 word answers. If you are looking for feedback that is more descriptive or in depth, I would recommend using another tool. If you are just looking for one word answers (like the synonym or adjectives examples I listed above) then this is a great tool for you because of how easy it is to use. The second disadvantage is that all answers are anonymous. Teachers cannot see which students posted which asnwers, or how many times one student posted an answer. There is no way to ensure that students won't post innapropriate answers. I am forseeing kids posting something innapropriate because it is anonymous and the teacher won't know who did it. That is why I would highly recommend adding an administrative password, so if that happens you can go in and monitor the responses.The third disadvantage is that answers do not automatically update and show up on the embedded question. To view the answers posted, you must click on the question, which will redirect you to the answergarden website. So I suppose if the teacher wanted all answers to show, she or he would have to re-embed the question into the blog after people have posted their answers. It would be much better if the answers were interactive and could post immediately on your personal website or blog.

Answergarden is a very simple, easy, and basic tool to use for feedback. Feedback  can be viewed by everyone included in your audience. Nothing is private or detailed. This is not a good tool to use if you are trying to poll for research purposes, because you know nothing about the participants. I would really only recommend using this tool for the purpose of brainstorming. It is so fast and easy to try out, you should try it quickly to see what you think.

You can post your answer on any of my examples I created above. Just remember they won't show up on my blog until I re-embed the answered question.