There are two types of Student accounts
Invited User Account (Google / Microsoft / Email)
A full Cloud Stop Motion account which has been invited to join an organization. Once the invitation has been accepted the user then shares the organizations storage allowance and the organization admin(s) and teachers can see and manage the users work.
Full Cloud Stop Motion accounts can be created by signing in with Google or Microsoft or signing up with a verified email address.
Classic Student Account (no email address required)
A student account which is created by an organization admin with a simple username and password . Users login via the student login url with their organization name, username, and password.
Advantages of using an account with an email address are:
Students can sign in via the main Cloud Stop Motion login page instead of the (legacy) student login page. This means (where applicable) students can log on using 'single sign on' with their Google or Microsoft account. Instead of students having to go to the student login page, enter their school name, username and password, they can just click 'sign in with Google/Microsoft' and be instantly signed into their organisation account.
Students who have already independently started animating with Cloud Stop Motion under their own account can be invited to join an organisation. When they accept the invitation, their account will be connected to the organisation and they can share the organisation's storage allowance. Additionally, any organisation admins will be able to see and manage the user's account and animations.
Using an email address and a strong password (or SSO via Google/Microsoft) is more secure than using a simple student login with a basic username and password.
Users with an email address can be invited to join more than one organisation account. They can have a single sign-on but switch between their different organisations when logged in.
The user's credentials (i.e. email address and password) are stored and managed only by a Microsoft Azure Authentication service, unlike the simple student login details which are stored and managed internally inside Cloud Stop Motion.
The simple login without an email address was originally designed some years ago when it was less commonplace for students to all have their own email address and we wanted a solution that would still allow these students to use Cloud Stop Motion. Nowadays it is very rare for students not to have their own email addresses.