Monthly or Yearly Educator Package? Course Length and Transfers

The short answer to monthly or yearly educator package lies in the length of your course. If the time from your first Premium lesson to your last one is no more than 4–5 weeks, the monthly package is enough: each code gives 30 days, which comfortably covers five weekly lessons. If the course runs longer than 2–3 months, or you want students to keep going at home after it ends, the yearly package makes more sense. For courses in between, around 6–10 weeks, giving the same student two monthly codes back to back (stacking) is usually the cleanest solution. And if a student leaves the course, the code is not wasted: with a transfer you move the remaining time to a new code and give it to someone else.

Prices vary by country and store, so you will not find numbers here; instead there is a break-even calculation you can do in two minutes with the prices on your own screen. After that you will see exactly how the time works, which package suits seven different course formats, when to hand out codes on the calendar, how to use a transfer step by step in three typical situations, and what the five code statuses on the My Codes screen mean. If you want to know how the packages are bought and how many you need for your class size, start with the post on an Arduino app for the classroom and bulk Premium codes; this one focuses only on choosing the duration and on transfers.

The decision rule and the break-even calculation

You need two numbers to decide. The first is the course length in days: do not count calendar weeks, count the days from the lesson where students first open Premium projects to the last lesson. A course with 6 weekly lessons looks like 6 weeks, but it lasts 35 days from the first lesson to the last; by the same logic a course with 5 lessons ends after 28 days and fits into a single monthly code. The second is the break-even month count: on the Educator Packages screen in the app, put the price of the yearly and the monthly package of the same size side by side and divide: yearly package price ÷ monthly package price = break-even months. If your course runs more 30-day blocks than that number, the yearly package is cheaper; if it runs fewer, stacking monthly codes costs less. Do not mix the 5-code and 10-code packages: always compare two packages with the same number of codes.

How does the time work? Five rules

• The time starts on the day the code is redeemed. It is counted from the day the student enters the code on the Redeem Code screen, not the day you bought the package. Yearly codes bought in August and handed out in September start each student's 365 days in September.
• A monthly code gives 30 days, a yearly code 365. Days are counted, not calendar months; a monthly code redeemed in February also lasts 30 days and does not stop at the end of the month.
• If a new code is entered on an account that is Premium through a code, the times add up. If a second monthly code is entered on day 20 of a 30-day code, the new time is added on top of the first code's end date; no day is lost.
• Unused codes never expire. A code shown as Unused in My Codes gives the same time this term or next year.
• An account with an active store subscription cannot redeem a code. If the student has a running Premium subscription through the App Store or Google Play, they can only enter the code after the subscription ends; the code waits in the meantime.

Here is the practical side of stacking: say you are running the 8-week robotics coding plan with block coding and there are 49 days from the first lesson to the last. Each student needs two monthly codes, but you do not have to hand out both on day one. If you give the first code in lesson one and the second in lesson four, you gain two things. A student who leaves within the first three weeks leaves you a second code that was never used, and you give it to someone else without spending a transfer. For students who stay, the time adds up to 60 days; a second code entered a few days before the first one ends does not burn a single day. If you hand out both codes on the first day, the total is still 60 days, but a student who leaves keeps both codes on their account.

Which package for which course type?

The table below gives a starting recommendation for seven typical course formats. The reason column shows the duration the decision rests on, and the last column shows what to watch out for with that choice. How many packages you need for your class size is a separate calculation; here we only look at the duration.

Two rows in the table need a bit more explanation. In one-to-one private lessons, think of a yearly code not as a right that belongs to one student but as a seat that circulates for a year. Say your first student took lessons for two months and stopped. You transfer the code and a new code of about 10 months is created; it waits as Unused until you give it to the new student, and the remaining days do not run in the meantime. If the new student stops after three months, you repeat the same step. Because a yearly code has 6 transfers along its whole chain, a single code can serve up to seven students without total use going beyond 365 days. The logic is similar in a robotics club: some members come and go in the first weeks, so instead of giving everyone a code on day one, you give codes to those who join for good; when a member leaves mid-term, their code passes to the newcomer by transfer.

When should you hand out the codes? A sample calendar

Since a code's time starts on the day it is redeemed, the day you hand it out matters more than the day you buy it. Say you are planning a school year from September to June with a class of 24 and you bought a combination of yearly packages with 25 codes, so you have one spare. If you spend the first two weeks on free projects and hand out codes in the third week, the year runs roughly like this:

The same logic applies to the monthly package, only the window is narrower. If in a 6-week course you spend the first two weeks on the free LED Blink, Traffic Light and LED Control with a Push Button (Push) projects, you hand out codes in the third lesson and the 30-day window covers weeks 3 to 6. That way you finish with one code per student instead of two. The main thing to watch is holidays: if a monthly code is redeemed right before a two-week break, half of its time passes on days without lessons. If a holiday is coming, hand out codes after the break, or run the lesson before the holiday with free projects as well.

What exactly does a transfer do?

A transfer cancels a used code and creates a new code with the remaining time. Each code has 1 transfer in monthly packages and 6 in yearly packages. The example in the app sums it up well: you gave a student a yearly code, they used it for 1 month and 11 months remain. When you transfer the code, that student's Premium from this code ends immediately, a new code for the remaining 11 months is created for you, and you give it to another student. A transfer does not delete the student's account; it only ends the Premium access that came from this code. Here are the details you should know:

• Only an Active code can be transferred. A code nobody has used yet needs no transfer; you simply give it to another student. An expired code has no time left to pass on.
• The new code starts as Unused. The remaining days are written onto the new code, and the clock only runs once the new student redeems it. Waiting two weeks for the new student takes nothing away from the remaining time.
• The transfers belong to the chain, not to a single code. The new code created by a transfer comes with one transfer fewer: on a yearly code 6 becomes 5, then 4. On a monthly code, once the single transfer is used, the new code has none left.
• The old code becomes Cancelled. The previous student cannot enter the same code again; in My Codes the old code shows as cancelled and the new code as a separate line.
• The previous student's Premium ends right away. Access closes the moment you confirm the transfer, with no grace period. So transfer only after you have talked to the student.

Three transfer scenarios step by step

1. Open Profile > My Codes in the app; you can do the same on the My Codes page on the website.
2. Find the package and pick the code whose status is Active. The user's name, username and end date confirm you picked the right code.
3. Check the days left and the transfers left on the code. A code with only a few days left is not worth a transfer.
4. Tap Transfer and confirm the warning in the Code Transfer window: "This code will be cancelled and a new code will be created with the remaining time."
5. The old code becomes Cancelled, and the new code with the remaining time appears in the list as Unused.
6. Copy the new code with Copy Code or send it to one person with the share button. For the student's side of the steps, you can pass on the post how to redeem an educator code.

What happens when the transfers run out?

A code with no transfers left keeps working as Active, it simply cannot be transferred anymore; the remaining time stays on that account. In a monthly package this happens right after the first transfer: once you move a monthly code, the new code has zero transfers. At that point you have three options. If the code is still with the same student, you wait for its time to end and it turns Expired by itself. If a new student has arrived, you give them one of your unused spare codes. If you have no spare left, you add a 5-code package; any codes you do not use carry over to the next term. In a yearly package, 6 transfers are more than enough for most classes. If you see your transfers running out quickly, the problem is most likely not the transfers but handing out codes too early.

Code statuses: what do the five statuses in My Codes mean?

Common mistakes and easy fixes

• Handing out all codes on day one. Some students leave in the first two weeks. For every student who takes a code on day one and then quits, you either spend a transfer or let the code's time run out. Teach the first lessons with free projects and hand out codes once the class list has settled.
• Redeeming a monthly code right before a holiday. The 30 days are calendar days and keep running during the break. A monthly code redeemed a week before a public holiday or the mid-year break loses half its time on days without lessons. Move the hand-out to after the break.
• Spending transfers needlessly. Do not transfer for a student who is ill, will miss two weeks or is in an exam period; when they come back they will need a code again. A code with only a few days left is not worth moving either, because the new code would also last only a few days.
• Thinking an unused code needs a transfer. A code shown as Unused in My Codes is already free; you do not need a transfer to give it to another student, just copy and send it.
• Sending a code to a student with an active subscription. A student whose App Store or Google Play subscription is still running cannot redeem the code. Ask first; give them the code when the subscription ends, and until then it waits as Unused.
• Choosing the duration out of habit instead of by course. In a 4-week workshop, 11 months of a yearly code stay with the student; that is not a loss, but if your goal is only the workshop, monthly is enough. In a 9-month course, stacking monthly codes means nine codes per student; do not settle on monthly before doing the break-even calculation.

Decision flow: the right package in six questions

1. How many days are there from your first Premium lesson to your last? If 30 days or fewer, a monthly package with one code per student is enough. If more, keep going.
2. Can you teach the first lessons with free projects? If yes, delay handing out codes and count the days again; most 5–6 week courses then fit into a single monthly code.
3. Is the course still longer than 30 days? Divide the yearly package price by the monthly package price and compare the break-even number with the course's 30-day block count.
4. Do you want students to keep going at home after the course ends? If yes, choose yearly; the remaining months stay with the student.
5. Do you expect students to change during the course? If you expect more than one change, choose yearly, because each monthly code has only 1 transfer.
6. How many codes and spares do you need? Work out the combination for your class size with the table in the post on bulk Premium codes for the classroom.

In short: monthly for short, stable groups, yearly for long or changing groups. For courses in between, stack monthly codes, hand them out at the first Premium lesson and save your transfers for students who really leave. If you want to run the break-even calculation with your own prices, just look at the monthly and yearly options on the Profile > Educator Packages screen in the BlueGrays app.