diff --git a/Gemfile b/Gemfile
index 8cd13375..d3d060b5 100644
--- a/Gemfile
+++ b/Gemfile
@@ -28,6 +28,8 @@ gem 'rubytree'
 gem 'sass-rails', '~> 4.0.3'
 gem 'sdoc', '~> 0.4.0', group: :doc
 gem 'slim'
+gem 'bootstrap_pagedown'
+gem 'pagedown-rails', '~> 1.1.4'
 gem 'sorcery'
 gem 'thread_safe'
 gem 'turbolinks'
diff --git a/Gemfile.lock b/Gemfile.lock
index e440fd0b..527a91fe 100644
--- a/Gemfile.lock
+++ b/Gemfile.lock
@@ -48,6 +48,8 @@ GEM
       debug_inspector (>= 0.0.1)
     bootstrap-will_paginate (0.0.10)
       will_paginate
+    bootstrap_pagedown (1.1.0)
+      rails (>= 3.2)
     builder (3.2.2)
     byebug (8.2.2)
     capistrano (3.3.5)
@@ -175,6 +177,8 @@ GEM
       multi_json (~> 1.3)
       multi_xml (~> 0.5)
       rack (>= 1.2, < 3)
+    pagedown-rails (1.1.4)
+      railties (> 3.1)
     parser (2.3.0.6)
       ast (~> 2.2)
     pg (0.18.4)
@@ -355,6 +359,7 @@ DEPENDENCIES
   better_errors
   binding_of_caller
   bootstrap-will_paginate
+  bootstrap_pagedown
   byebug
   capistrano (~> 3.3.0)
   capistrano-rails
@@ -382,6 +387,7 @@ DEPENDENCIES
   newrelic_rpm
   nokogiri
   nyan-cat-formatter
+  pagedown-rails (~> 1.1.4)
   pg
   pry
   puma (~> 2.15.3)
@@ -411,3 +417,6 @@ DEPENDENCIES
   uglifier (>= 1.3.0)
   web-console (~> 2.0)
   will_paginate (~> 3.0)
+
+BUNDLED WITH
+   1.12.4
diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/application.js b/app/assets/javascripts/application.js
index a78c7a67..ebdcc08d 100644
--- a/app/assets/javascripts/application.js
+++ b/app/assets/javascripts/application.js
@@ -21,3 +21,7 @@
 //= require turbolinks
 //= require_tree ../../../lib
 //= require_tree .
+//= require bootstrap_pagedown
+//= require markdown.converter
+//= require markdown.sanitizer
+//= require markdown.editor
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/exercises.js b/app/assets/javascripts/exercises.js
index 81da8cf8..9d85b4f1 100644
--- a/app/assets/javascripts/exercises.js
+++ b/app/assets/javascripts/exercises.js
@@ -173,9 +173,10 @@ $(function() {
     } else if ($('.edit_exercise, .new_exercise').isPresent()) {
       execution_environments = $('form').data('execution-environments');
       file_types = $('form').data('file-types');
-     // new MarkdownEditor('#exercise_instructions');
-      new MarkdownEditor('#exercise_description');
+      // new MarkdownEditor('#exercise_instructions');
+      // new MarkdownEditor('#exercise_description')
       // todo: add an ace editor for each file
+      new PagedownEditor('#exercise_description');
 
       enableInlineFileCreation();
       inferFileAttributes();
diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/markdown_ace_editor.js b/app/assets/javascripts/markdown_ace_editor.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..42e566fe
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/assets/javascripts/markdown_ace_editor.js
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+(function() {
+    var ACE_FILES_PATH = '/assets/ace/';
+    
+    window.MarkdownEditor = function(selector) {
+        ace.config.set('modePath', ACE_FILES_PATH);
+        var editor = ace.edit($(selector).next()[0]);
+        editor.on('change', function() {
+            $(selector).val(editor.getValue());
+        });
+        editor.setShowPrintMargin(false);
+        var session = editor.getSession();
+        session.setMode('markdown');
+        session.setUseWrapMode(true);
+        session.setValue($(selector).val());
+    };
+})();
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/markdown_editor.js b/app/assets/javascripts/markdown_editor.js
deleted file mode 100644
index 91292da1..00000000
--- a/app/assets/javascripts/markdown_editor.js
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,16 +0,0 @@
-(function() {
-  var ACE_FILES_PATH = '/assets/ace/';
-
-  window.MarkdownEditor = function(selector) {
-    ace.config.set('modePath', ACE_FILES_PATH);
-    var editor = ace.edit($(selector).next()[0]);
-    editor.on('change', function() {
-      $(selector).val(editor.getValue());
-    });
-    editor.setShowPrintMargin(false);
-    var session = editor.getSession();
-    session.setMode('markdown');
-    session.setUseWrapMode(true);
-    session.setValue($(selector).val());
-  };
-})();
diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/pagedown.js b/app/assets/javascripts/pagedown.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..b48c2ae6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/assets/javascripts/pagedown.js
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+(function() {
+    var ACE_FILES_PATH = '/assets/ace/';
+
+    window.PagedownEditor = function(selector) {
+        var converter = Markdown.getSanitizingConverter();
+        var editor    = new Markdown.Editor( converter );
+
+        editor.run();
+    };
+})();
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/app/assets/stylesheets/application.css b/app/assets/stylesheets/application.css
index 622f35c1..47163008 100644
--- a/app/assets/stylesheets/application.css
+++ b/app/assets/stylesheets/application.css
@@ -14,4 +14,6 @@
  *= require_tree ../../../lib
  *= require_tree ../../../vendor/assets/stylesheets/
  *= require_self
- */
+ *= require bootstrap_pagedown
+ *= require markdown
+*/
diff --git a/app/views/exercises/_form.html.slim b/app/views/exercises/_form.html.slim
index 968540af..0dc004cc 100644
--- a/app/views/exercises/_form.html.slim
+++ b/app/views/exercises/_form.html.slim
@@ -8,8 +8,8 @@
     = f.text_field(:title, class: 'form-control', required: true)
   .form-group
     = f.label(:description)
-    = f.hidden_field(:description)
-    .form-control.markdown
+    = f.pagedown_editor :description
+
   .form-group
     = f.label(:execution_environment_id)
     = f.collection_select(:execution_environment_id, @execution_environments, :id, :name, {}, class: 'form-control')