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Creating Anonymous Student Accounts
Creating Anonymous Student Accounts

If your school does not allow any Personal Data to be stored on our platform, you can support students in creating anonymized accounts.

Sara Jenis avatar
Written by Sara Jenis
Updated over a week ago

Method #1 (Preferred): Students Sign Up with an Automatically Generated Nickname

Teachers have the option to enhance privacy in their classroom settings by enabling a feature that allows students to join a section using a nickname. This nickname is automatically generated, anonymous, and not tied to any personal data.

💡 This feature is currently in Beta. If you'd like to gain access to the feature, please contact support@codehs.com!

Step 1: Navigate to your Section settings

Image pointing to the "Edit Section" button from the dropdown menu when clicking on the 3 dots to the right of a section on the sections page.

Step 2: Toggle "Use Nicknames" setting

Under the Basic Settings section, you'll find the Use Nicknames toggle. Go ahead and toggle that to enable anonymous nicknames for your students.

Image of the Section's settings with an arrow pointing out the "Use Nicknames" toggle.

💡 If you do not see this option, please contact support@codehs.com to be added to the Beta group.

Now, when students attempt to join your Section, they'll be redirected to the sign up form with a pre-populated anonymous username:

Image of the sign up form students see after joining a section with "Use Nicknames" enabled. They'll see a random username populated for them.

Method #2: Students Manually Choose a Nickname

Step 1: Create a Section to use with your students.

An animated .gif demonstrating the Section creation process

Step 2: Invite students to your section

You can send students the signup link located at the top of your section. Entering the link will prompt students to create a new account.

Step 3: Have students create accounts using anonymous information

Students can create nicknames on their own or you can guide them on how you'd like their names to be structured.

We will never email a student, so email addresses can be random. Students should use your school domain so that we know they are associated with the proper school. They can use a mix of numbers and letters to create their fake email address, or you can share guidance on the structure of their email. For example:

Students should create and track their own passwords.

Step 4: Gather nicknames from students

The names that students enter will populate on your roster as soon as they create their account. It's important to keep a log of which account belongs to each student so that you can track their work. Have students share their names as they log in.

A screenshot of a CodeHS section roster showing student accounts using anonymous nicknames

Still have questions? Contact our team at hello@codehs.com to learn more!

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