Better Class

Better Class is a reverse-Kahoot classroom app where students ask questions and teachers answer. Students can post anonymously or publicly. Teachers moderate questions in a separate environment. The app includes moderation controls, text-to-speech (TTS), banning, authentication, threaded replies, and custom room creation and deletion.

Key features

• Reverse-Kahoot style: students ask questions, teachers answer
• Anonymous or public questions
• Teacher moderation environment
• Moderation tools: approve/reject questions, delete, ban users
• Text-to-Speech (TTS) for questions and replies
• Authentication with profile pictures
• Threaded replies to messages
• Custom room creation and deletion
• Real-time updates via Socket.IO

Tech stack

• Client: React + TypeScript (Create React App)
• Server: Node + TypeScript + Express
• Real-time: Socket.IO
• Authentication: Clerk
• Validation: zod
• Forms: react-hook-form
• UI primitives: ShadCN

Repo layout

• client/ — React front-end
• server/ — TypeScript Node backend

Getting started

Prerequisites:

• Node.js (LTS recommended)
• npm

Install dependencies:

# from repo root
cd client
npm install

# in a separate terminal
cd ../server
npm install

Build & production:

# build client
cd client
npm run build

# build server
cd server
npm run build

# start server from built output
cd server
npm start

Typical ports:

• Frontend: http://localhost:3000
• Backend: http://localhost:4000

How it works (high level)

1. Teachers create a room and share the room code or link.
2. Students join the room and submit questions, choosing anonymous or public posting.
3. Questions are delivered to teachers for moderation in a dedicated UI.
4. Teachers approve to publish, reject/delete content, or ban users.
5. Approved questions are visible in the class and can be read with TTS.
6. Real-time synchronization uses Socket.IO.

Security & privacy

• Ensure anonymous posting does not store or expose metadata that could identify users.
• Track banned users server-side to enforce bans across reconnects.
• Validate and sanitize user-submitted content on the server.

Contribution

To contribute:

1. Open an issue describing the change.
2. Create a feature/ or fix/ branch.
3. Make changes and ensure TypeScript compiles.
4. Open a Pull Request describing the change and include screenshots where helpful.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Copyright (c) 2025 Dhruv Goel