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Prepare a Gantt workshop for your students

8 min read — April 2026

The problem

Your students need to learn project planning — but MS Project is expensive, ProjeQtor requires a server, and Asana/Monday don't offer a real Gantt chart.

You need a tool that is free, works without installation, that you can distribute like a PDF, and that lets your students collaborate in real time during the workshop.

What you'll do

In 5 steps, you'll prepare a planning exercise, distribute it to your students, and observe their work live — all without a server, without accounts, without IT support.

Step 1 — Prepare the template project

Open MasterGantt and create the project your students will need to plan. Add tasks, resources, dependencies — or leave it empty with just the assignment brief.

Open mastergantt.html in your browser.

Create a project (e.g., "Gantt Workshop — Building a website").

Add the tasks from the assignment, or leave the project empty if students must create everything.

Export as JSON: Settings > Export > Download .json. This file is your template.

💡 Tip: You can also use the built-in OrthoLab demo (Projects > OrthoLab Demo) as a starting point for a rich workshop with resources, purchases, and dependencies.

Step 2 — Distribute the file

MasterGantt is a single HTML file. Distribute it like you would a PDF — via Moodle, email, or a USB drive.

Option A: Moodle / LMS

Upload mastergantt.html + the template JSON file to your Moodle course.

Students download both files, open the HTML, then import the JSON.

Option B: Email

Send both files as attachments.

Students save and open — that's it.

Option C: USB drive / local network

Copy the files to a network share or USB drive.

Each student copies to their computer and opens in their browser.

💡 No installation required. No admin rights, no server, no plugin. Chrome, Firefox, Edge, or Safari — any browser works.

Step 3 — Launch the collaboration room

MasterGantt supports real-time collaboration between students. Each group can work on the same schedule simultaneously.

In MasterGantt, open Settings > Collaboration.

Create a room: name = Gantt-Workshop-Group1, password = your choice.

Check Allow editing for students, or uncheck for read-only mode.

Share the room name and password with your students.

🔒 End-to-end encryption: All exchanged data is encrypted with AES-256-GCM. The server only sees opaque blobs — even the server administrator cannot read the schedules.

Step 4 — Observe live

As a teacher, you can join your students' rooms in read-only mode and observe their work in real time.

Open MasterGantt in a tab for each group.

Join each room by disabling editing (read-only).

You see changes in less than a second — tasks created, bars moved, dependencies added.

Step 5 — Grade

Two options for grading:

Option A: Annotate live

Join the group's room in edit mode.

Modify the schedule directly: add correction tasks, change statuses, add descriptions.

Students see your corrections in real time.

Option B: Export and compare

Ask each group to export their schedule as JSON.

Import each JSON into your instance to compare with the answer key.

💬 FAQ — Common IT department questions

Cloudflare is blocked on my network?
The collaboration server (Cloudflare Worker) can be deployed on your own infrastructure. See the deployment guide (6 steps, ~10 min).

Does data pass through a server?
The HTML file works 100% offline. Collaboration uses a WebSocket server, but all data is end-to-end encrypted (AES-256-GCM). The server only sees opaque blobs.

Do accounts need to be created?
No. No accounts, no sign-up, no personal data collected. Students open the file and start working.

Is it GDPR compliant?
Data stays in each student's browser (localStorage). Nothing is transmitted except in collaboration mode, and in that case it's encrypted. No personal data is processed.

Ready to try?

MasterGantt is free, no sign-up, no installation. Download it and prepare your first workshop in 5 minutes.

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