We're celebrating our next chapter with a new name.
There was a moment this summer when we knew Scriblit was going to be our new name.
We were leading our writing workshop at a conference in Abilene, Texas, and our session ended a little early. I told our attendees: “So…we’re thinking about changing our name. Can I share it with you?”
They nodded politely.
My wife and cofounder Alexa and I had been brainstorming for months and felt good about this one, but we weren’t sure yet. We were a bit nervous about the pronunciation. So, rather than saying it aloud, I exited full screen from my slides, added a new one, and slowly typed: S-C-R-I-B-L-I-T.
When I finished typing, nobody said anything…but everyone smiled.
That’s when we knew we were Scriblit.
Defining Scriblit
Scriblit combines both scribble and scribe with literacy. When said aloud, it sounds a bit small…and kinda fun 
. We liked this.
Too many writing tools are heavy experiences. They’re complicated. They’re expensive. They can be isolating for students. They’re pedagogically sound, but kids groan when you get them out.
Scriblit is the antidote. You can watch a teacher use it Monday and have it up and running in your classroom Tuesday. It’s dead simple; it does less, better. It’s affordable. It was designed at the Stanford Graduate School of Education and is grounded in serious learning science, but is still a social, living, breathing experience – one that students ask their teacher to do rather than vice versa.
It’s also a made-up word. That means, alongside our educators, we get to imbue it with meaning over time. That’s important to us, because writing instruction is changing.
Why now?
A cloud of anxiety hovers over K12 writing instruction in 2026. Many students struggle with writing, and they can now press the “AI-easy-button” that writes for them in seconds. It’s also incredibly hard to monitor.
What do we do?
Over the last three years, we’ve worked with thousands of educators to answer that question.
Because AI is resulting in fewer opportunities for writing practice, we created a tool that enables more opportunities for writing across the curriculum by combining formative assessment and writing. We believe writing instruction has to be a team sport going forward: It can’t just fall on English teachers anymore.
Because AI has made assessment validity challenging, we built a writing tool that takes place live, in class. We believe students still need authentic opportunities to write.
Because AI has some students questioning the value of learning to write, we built a tool that enables them to experience the value of writing by sharing what they’ve written with those they care about most: Their classmates. We believe social writing experiences help students fall in love with writing.
The product that’s grown out of these beliefs is different from the one we started building three years ago. We wanted a name to better capture that product and the future of literacy we want to help build. Scriblit more fully represents our mission to help students scribble their way to literacy, one writing activity at a time.
Where we’re headed
In combination with the launch of Scriblit, we’re also excited to announce the release of our newest feature set: Skill Builders.
Skill Builders help students master the writing skills they need most. They represent a library of more than 150 2nd-12th grade writing skills aligned to Common Core Language standards. After every Scriblit writing activity, we identify common skill gaps in students’ writing. We then instantly generate targeted practice activities to develop those skills, but grounded in the content you’re already teaching. Your students build mastery while you track progress over time. You can learn more about how Skill Builders work, along with how and why we developed them, here.
We’ve always been a place where students can practice writing. We’re excited to be growing into a place that will help teach students to become better writers, one skill at a time.
We’re grateful to the thousands of educators and students who have brought us to this moment and are excited to continue working with you to help students write better, together.
Sincerely,
Adam & Alexa Sparks | Co-founders of Scriblit (formerly Short Answer)
FAQs
1. What is changing?
Our product name has changed from Short Answer to Scriblit. Our website domain is now www.scriblit.com. Anyone visiting the old site of www.myshortanswer.com will be automatically redirected to our new site. You’ll also notice new branding, changes to social media handles, etc.
Our legal entity, ownership, and security practices remain the same.
2. Do I need to do anything with my account?
No. You will log in using the same account, the same way you have in the past, and have access to the same resources, classes, and our recently expanded functionality.
3. Is the product changing?
The product you’ve known for the last three years will remain fundamentally the same. You will navigate it the same way you always have, though it will have a whole new set of features called Skill Builders.
Students will still join activities using join codes; you can sign in with your existing credentials, etc.
4. We have a data privacy agreement and/or contract with you. Do we need to update this?
Our legal structure, ownership structure, and data privacy practices remain exactly the same as before. Short Answer, Inc. remains the legal parent entity, and any contracts signed with Short Answer, Inc. remain valid.
To help with this transition, we’ve put together a letter clarifying this status and our product name change.
5. Do I need to say anything to my IT team?
This will depend on the district, but if your IT team had to initially “unblock” Short Answer for you to access it, this likely means you will also need to unblock and whitelist Scriblit. Out of an abundance of caution, we would appreciate you sending this link to your IT team. This will enable them to make any necessary adjustments to school firewalls and related network settings.
If you run into any issues with this, please email adam@scriblit.com for more information. We’re happy to work with you to make sure you have access to Scriblit.
6. I have a training coming up. Do you have any Scriblit training materials?
Yes! See these updated training materials:
- Slides for a 45-minute to 1-hour-long Scriblit training
- This video explains how you might use the slides above.
- One-pager to give a quick overview of Scriblit
- Our All-In, Pair-It, Battle Royale, Quick Write, and Pen Pals clickable tutorials are great for learning how each writing activity works
- Our Introduction to Skill Builders
- Resources explaining each of our premium features
