Device Agnostic Tools

One thing virtual learning has taught us is that there are so many great online tools to use!  As we have shifted from an in-school environment in which we rely heavily on uniform, district-provided devices that all use the same operating systems and browsers to a remote-learning environment in which students may be on different types of devices with diverse operating systems and browsers, I have noticed the importance of using tools that are device agnostic, that is, that work on any device (Moorefield-Lang, 2014).

I know that many of us are looking for ways to encourage class response while virtual.  I recommend checking out AnswerGarden at https://answergarden.ch/.  AnswerGarden is a polling application that works on multiple devices and platforms (Moorefield-Lang, 2014).  AnswerGarden lets you create word clouds with students, with the most popular answers in larger font (AnswerGarden, n.d.).  It provides a quick, easy way to check in with students to activate prior knowledge, assess learning as you go along, and get feedback at the end of a lesson.  You can check out a sample on the AnswerGarden website:  https://answergarden.ch/demonstration/.

The AnswerGarden website is easy to navigate, and creating a poll is as simple as clicking the + on the top right menu on the home page:

… and following the easy instructions:

No login is required.  Simply create your poll and share.  

Here is a slide from a presentation I created for a National Poetry Month unit that includes a QR code for an AnswerGarden I created.  I anticipate using this AnswerGarden poll three times:  once at the beginning of the unit to activate students’ existing ideas about poetry, once about mid-way through to see if students’ perceptions of poetry are shifting, and finally at the end of the unit to determine what students think about poetry after spending three weeks immersed in it.

If you need more guidance, you can check out these helpful tutorials on YouTube:

From Technology for Teachers and Students:

From Richard Byrne:

If you would like more inspiration for how to use AnswerGarden, many educators have shared their AnswerGarden activities on Twitter using #AnswerGarden (AnswerGarden, n.d.).

 

References

AnswerGarden. (n.d.). About AnswerGarden. https://answergarden.ch/about-AnswerGarden/

Byrne, R. [Richard Byrne]. (2015, December 16). Create a simple poll on AnswerGarden [Video]. YouTube.  https://youtu.be/uD-8XQCnMK8

Moorefield-Lang, H. (2014). An exploration and explanation of device agnostic tools. Library Media Connection, 33(1), 8-9.

Technology for Teachers and Students. (2016, November 28). Answer Garden tutorial [Video]. YouTube.  https://youtu.be/12XKqbMngKc