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For teaching · free software (EUPL-1.2)Current version 0.20.0
Groups write in the same text, the plenary collects questions and votes, teams compete in a quiz. Participants need no account, a link or QR code is enough, on desktop and mobile devices. The data stays on the institution’s server.
Pads are mainly tools for in-class and seminar phases: groups work at the same time, teachers see what emerges. On top come a projector view with QR code, votes and a buzzer on the phone. Which tool suits which situation is shown in the manual.
Three to six students write in the same text. In Moodle group mode every group gets its own pad.
Every person writes in their own colour. The group sees who contributed, without anything being graded.
Thumbs up or down right next to a statement or proposal, one vote per person. An opinion poll right inside the text.
Checkboxes typed as - [ ] or added by button. Everyone sees live what is done.
The timeline shows how a text came about: what was deleted, when the turn came. Suited to tasks such as “Compare the first draft with the result”.
Even in large groups, questions and ideas come together, without names, with one vote per person. The board view shows the result live.
At the end of a unit, teams compete on the quiz grid and buzz with their phones. Teams only have names, no individuals are recorded.
Storyboards, mind maps or flow charts are created together on the drawing board, on the same server.
The pad is at the core. Idea collection, quiz and drawing board come on top and can be switched on and off per server. Everything runs without a learning platform and on phones too.
Type a name on the start page or pick a template, and a pad, collection, quiz or drawing board is ready. Share it by link or QR code. Free pads have ownership rules and an adjustable retention period. Light and dark follow the system.
Admins set name, colours, logo and start image in the browser. NextPad computes the colour shades so that the contrast is sufficient.
Everyone writes in the same text at the same time, each person in their own colour. The timeline replays how the text came about step by step.
# for headings, - for lists, - [ ] for checkboxes, tables with |, code blocks with ```
Post without a name, vote with one vote per person. The board view with QR code goes on the projector, moderated by the person who created the collection.
Enter questions by category and points as a table, put the grid on the projector, teams buzz with their phones. Whoever presses first appears large on the screen, a countdown limits the time per question.
Shapes, arrows, freehand and text on a shared surface. Everyone sees the others' pointers. The drawing board is hardly usable with screen readers; the pad suits that better.
In Moodle and ILIAS, pad, idea collection and quiz come into the course as an activity. Then only course members take part, and teachers moderate. The manual shows how for Moodle and ILIAS. Moodle needs no new plugin for this.
Set the NextPad address and the API key in the Etherpad Lite plugin. Nothing else changes in Moodle.
Moodle creates pads, authors and sessions itself through the API. Group mode, course reset, backup and restore use the same calls as with Etherpad.
Added as an “External tool”, each activity becomes its own pad, idea collection or quiz. Roles come from Moodle: teachers moderate and lead, students take part. Names, profile pictures and language are passed on, a button leads back to the course. NextPad does not send grades.
# This is how mod_etherpadlite asks, NextPad answers like Etherpad POST /api/1.2.15/createGroupPad apikey=…&groupID=g.x3Kq…&padName=kurs-4711 # Response {"code":0,"message":"ok", "data":{"padID":"g.x3Kq…$kurs-4711"}}
The API is described in docs/api-spezifikation.md (German).
The administration registers NextPad once as an LTI provider. Teachers then add a pad, idea collection or quiz to the course as an object. Roles, names and language come from ILIAS. From version 0.19 on, the QR code and “Back to course” lead to ILIAS.
For operation
This part is for everyone who runs NextPad at their institution or decides about it.
No trackers, no fonts or scripts from others. Everything the browser loads comes from your own server.
Whoever creates a free pad owns it and can delete it or extend it by a year at any time. If wanted, NextPad deletes unused pads after an adjustable period; it is off by default. People signed in through Moodle or ILIAS get an email with the content first. Pads in courses follow the course.
Whoever owns a free pad can protect it with a password. The server stores only an Argon2id hash of it and slows down guessing. The password keeps strangers out but does not encrypt the content: whoever runs the server can read it. Only this way PDF export and the email before deletion stay possible.
One program without Node.js and without runtime plugins. Pad content stays data, sign-in through Moodle only accepts RS256-signed tokens.
One program in Rust with SQLite. Collaborative writing with Yjs (CRDT) and the TipTap editor; the drawing board is Excalidraw over the same Yjs server.
SQLite in the data directory, configuration through environment variables. A reverse proxy with TLS in front, done.
Start page and idea collection are checked with axe against WCAG 2.2 AA in every look, light and dark, on every test run. Targets are at least 44 px. Limits: the drawing board is hardly usable with screen readers, and the buzzer requires quick reactions.
Interface, help, exports and emails in German and English. The choice is remembered, otherwise the language from Moodle or the browser applies. What people write stays as it is.
Etherpad made writing together in the browser known at universities, often through mod_etherpadlite in Moodle. NextPad keeps what teaching uses. What makes it hard to run, it leaves out.
In Moodle the “Etherpad Lite” activity stays as it is: groups, time windows, course backup and restore keep working. In ILIAS NextPad comes into the course as an external tool. Existing pads stay available.
Timeline to trace changes, idea collection with board view, quiz with buzzer and drawing board, all on one server. The chat is gone; it was hardly used.
One program instead of a Node server with over a thousand npm packages and plugins. An update means: replace one file. Even with 100 people in one pad, responses stay under 80 ms in the load test.
One setting picks the shape for the start page, pads, idea collection and quiz: square, slightly rounded or rounded. All three meet WCAG 2.2 AA in light and dark mode. The fonts ship with the program and never come from other servers.
nextpad DefaultClear edges, petrol as accent, the font NextPad Sans with the metrics of Arial. Logo and house colours can be set in the admin pages.
rundLarge radii, pill buttons, blue as accent. The font Lexend was designed for readability. Logo and house colours can be set in the admin pages.
colibrisLike Etherpad with Quicksand and the pencil background. Familiar to everyone who worked with Etherpad before.
The variable NEXTPAD_THEME picks the look, on YunoHost the installation does. Institutions with their own corporate design use the hsd look as a template.
Three ways, depending on your environment. The settings are described in server/README.md.
Download for Linux x86-64 from the releases and start it.
# data directory and address
NEXTPAD_DATA=/srv/nextpad \
NEXTPAD_PUBLIC_URL=https://pads.example.org \
./nextpad
Go to releases
With docker compose following linuxserver.io, data under ./config.
cp .env.example .env docker compose up -d --buildContainer guide
As an app with a settings page for API keys, LTI and admins.
yunohost app install \ ./packaging/nextpad_ynhYunoHost package