diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 76fd363..978409e 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -35,8 +35,8 @@
     "gulp-mocha": "~2.1.3",
     "mocha": "~2.2.5",
     "node-jsdom": "~3.1.5",
-    "react": "~0.14.1",
-    "react-addons-test-utils": "~0.14.1",
+    "react": "~15.3",
+    "react-addons-test-utils": "~15.3",
     "vinyl-source-stream": "~1.1.0",
     "watchify": "~3.3.1",
     "zuul": "~3.2.0"
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@
     "markdown-it-sup": "~1.0.0",
     "markdown-it-table-of-contents": "~0.2.2",
     "markdown-it-video": "~0.4.0",
-    "react-dom": "~0.14.1",
+    "react-dom": "~15.3",
     "react-mixin": "~1.7.0",
     "twemoji": "~1.4.1"
   },
diff --git a/src/components/markdown-editor.jsx b/src/components/markdown-editor.jsx
index 0740d5a..3416008 100644
--- a/src/components/markdown-editor.jsx
+++ b/src/components/markdown-editor.jsx
@@ -133,7 +133,7 @@ export default class MarkdownEditor extends React.Component {
                 </div>
 
                 <div className="editor-area">
-                    <textarea ref="textarea" className="markdown-editor-input" name={this.props.name} placeholder={this.props.placeholder} defaultValue={this.props.defaultValue} value={this.props.value} rows={this.props.rows} cols={this.props.cols} onChange={this.onInputChange.bind(this)} />
+                    <textarea ref="textarea" className="markdown-editor-input" name={this.props.name} placeholder={this.props.placeholder} value={this.props.value} rows={this.props.rows} cols={this.props.cols} onChange={this.onInputChange.bind(this)} />
 
                     <Markdown className="markdown-editor-preview" project={this.props.project} baseURI={this.props.baseURI} transform={this.props.transform} idPrefix={this.props.idPrefix}>{this.props.value}</Markdown>
                 </div>
@@ -209,8 +209,7 @@ MarkdownEditor.displayName = 'MarkdownEditor';
 
 MarkdownEditor.defaultProps = {
     name: null,
-    defaultValue: null,
-    value: null,
+    value: '',
     placeholder: null,
     rows: 5,
     transform: replaceSymbols,