What does it mean if a course is retiring?

In 2024 we have introduced a new process for retiring courses whereby a course can be flagged for retirement in the Grok platform without affecting teachers' ability to continue using it in the short term.


Normal course

Retiring

Retired

Visible on Courses page

Anyone can enrol

Can access if previously enrolled

When a course is marked for retirement it is indicated by the "Retiring" flag as shown below.

Why is Grok retiring courses?

As the curriculum and industry standards evolve, teachers need to be confident that any Grok course they choose is providing high quality and relevant educational content they can use in their classrooms. When a course no longer meets these standards or duplicates another course, we either identify a suitable alternative course that can be used in its place or design a new course that is more up-to-date.

Will I be able to keep using a retiring course?

Yes. The purpose of the "Retiring" flag is to give teachers some forewarning of planned retirement of a course, so that they have plenty of time to consider alternatives as listed in the course descriptions (or contact support).

If a course is listed as "retiring", students and teachers will still be able to access the course. Teachers will still be able to assign it to their students. These courses will not be included by default in the course search results. There is a "Retiring" option that can be toggled on or off in the filters on the courses page, and turning this on will cause the search results to list all relevant retired courses.

Will I be able to keep using a retired course?

That depends. Once a course is marked as "Retired" it will no longer be displayed on the Courses page by default. Users who have previously enrolled in the course will continue to be able to access it.

As a teacher, this means that even though the course may still appear on your "My learning" page, you will not be able to assign it to your students anymore. Students that were assigned the course before it was retired will still be able to complete the course, but students are not able enroll themselves after the course is retired.

How soon will the retiring courses be retired?

We are currently working on a consistent communication plan to help teachers understand the timeline for future announcements of course changes. For now, all users will be informed at least six months prior to the planned retirement date for a course and offered alternatives to support their lesson planning. No courses will be retired in 2024.

Retiring Courses

Below is a list of some of the courses we are retiring, and alternatives to consider. We will aim to keep this list as up-to-date as possible, but if a course you're looking for isn't here, feel free to reach out to us at support@groklearning.com and we can help provide alternatives.

Retiring Course Suggested Alternative
Introduction to Programming Beginners Python
Chatbot - Python Beginners Python
Chatbot - Blockly Beginners Blockly
Cryptography - Python Cryptography
Arduino Sound Beginners micro:bit - Python
Beginners micro:bit - Blockly Micro:bit Starter - Blockly
Cookie Clicker - Javascript Webpages - Javascript
Micro:bit - Intro Python

Beginners micro:bit - Python

Virtual Pet - Python

Space Invaders - Blockly

Webpages - Javascript

Web.Comp Beginners

Space Invaders - Javascript

Webpages - Javascript

Web.Comp Beginners

Tree - Blockly Turtle Christmas micro:bit - Blockly

Still need help? Contact Us Contact Us