Inspiration As educators, we saw a need for a more engaging way to involve every student in classroom discussions. Traditional Q&A can leave quieter voices unheard and doesn’t always encourage equal participation. We wanted to create a tool that turns learning into a collaborative, creative process—where every student has a voice and contributes to the conversation. Thus, Untitled (working title!) was born: a real-time, turn-based writing game designed for classrooms.
What it does Untitled allows a teacher to create a topic, and students join the session to contribute a short "blurb"—a sentence or two—on the topic. Only one student can write at a time, and the contributions appear in sequence, forming a collective response or narrative. This format encourages thoughtful participation, active listening, and helps reinforce understanding in a low-pressure, collaborative environment.
How we built it We used React and Next.js for the frontend, paired with Bootstrap for clean, responsive UI components. Real-time communication is powered by Socket.IO, allowing seamless turn-taking and instant updates to the shared paragraph. The backend manages turn rotation, blurb broadcasting, and paragraph storage. The project is hosted on Vercel for easy deployment and fast performance.
Challenges we ran into Managing real-time user states: Ensuring that turn-taking is fair and synchronized across all devices required careful handling of socket events and edge cases like disconnects or late joins.
User experience: Designing a layout that kept everything intuitive for students of all ages while still giving the teacher control took several UI iterations.
Scalability: Supporting multiple classrooms and avoiding socket conflicts as more users joined posed some architectural challenges.
Accomplishments that we're proud of A fully functional turn-based system that keeps students engaged and on track.
A smooth, minimal UI that works on any device, from laptops to tablets.
Live paragraph updates that let students see their collective effort take shape in real time.
Successful tests in real classroom-like settings with positive feedback from educators.
What we learned How to build real-time applications with Socket.IO and Next.js.
The importance of balancing control (for teachers) and freedom (for students) in a collaborative app.
Designing for classrooms means accounting for tech variety, attention spans, and accessibility from the start.
What's next for Untitled Teacher dashboard for managing topics, reviewing contributions, and saving/exporting class paragraphs.
AI-powered prompts and feedback to help spark better blurbs and support struggling students.
Analytics to track participation and engagement.
Gamified modes, like lightning rounds or story battles, to add variety and keep things fun.
Authentication and class management, so teachers can assign sessions to specific groups of students securely.
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