AWS Authorized Instructor (AAI)

Onboarding Guide
v4.9.3 October 2022

© 2022, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved. AMAZON CONFIDENTIAL - DO NOT
DISCLOSE.

This publication contains nonpublic AWS Material, subject to the confidentiality terms of your AWS
Authorized Instructor Agreement, and is subject to change by AWS at any time
AAI Onboarding Guide
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Table of Contents

INSTRUCTOR ONBOARDING PROCESS ........................................................................................2

AAI PROGRAM CONTACTS ......................................................................................................................... 3
TECHNICAL RESOURCES ................................................................................................................4
STAY CURRENT WITH THE LATEST RELEASES.............................................................................................. 4
BUILD YOUR TECHNICAL EDGE ................................................................................................................... 5
MAINTAIN YOUR TECHNICAL EDGE ............................................................................................................ 5
YOUR ROLE AS AN INSTRUCTOR IN AN AWS CLASS..................................................................5
CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT ....................................................................................................................... 5
CONTENT DELIVERY ................................................................................................................................... 6
GENERAL BEST PRACTICES ......................................................................................................................... 6
INSTRUCTOR CANDIDATE AUTHORIZATION (ICA) .....................................................................7
PREPARING FOR THE ICA ........................................................................................................................... 7
WHAT TO EXPECT DURING THE ICA ........................................................................................................... 8
CRITERIA FOR EVALUATION ........................................................................................................................ 9
ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES DURING THE ICA ....................................................................................... 10
AFTER THE ICA ........................................................................................................................................ 11
COURSE MATERIALS, TRAINER RESOURCES, AND LABS ......................................................... 12
COURSE MATERIALS................................................................................................................................. 12
TRAINER RESOURCES .................................................................................................................. 12
VITALSOURCE EXPLORE USER GUIDE ....................................................................................................... 12
STAY CURRENT WITH THE LATEST RELEASES............................................................................................ 17
BUILD YOUR TECHNICAL EDGE ................................................................................................................. 17
MANAGING YOUR CLASS IN AWS BUILDER LABS ...................................................................................... 18
RESOURCES FOR PREPARING TO OBTAIN AWS CERTIFICATIONS .............................................................. 18
APPENDIX A: ICA TOPICS:........................................................................................................................ 19

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Instructor Onboarding Process

# Action Item Description
• All candidates must sign an AWS AIA to initiate the
onboarding process. In order to prepare the AIA, your AAI PM requires the personal
Sign the AWS Authorized postal address of the AAI candidate.
1
Instructor Agreement (AIA) • The AIA is self-service. Once the AIA is drafted, your AAI PM will send you a link,
where you can review and sign the agreement.
• For Explore access, first create an account on
Register for VitalSource Explore
VitalSource (https://online.vitalsource.com/#/user/registration)
access
2 • Once you have created the account, provide the email
address associated with the account to your AAI PM who will then grant access to the
Instructor materials.
• Create a customer account at https://aws.training (this
Create a customer account on must differ from an existing APN account)
3
aws.training • Your regional AAI PM will allowlist this account, this allows you to register for the
Instructor Candidate Authorization.
• Create a customer account at https://explore.skillbuilder.aws/learn (this
must differ from an existing APN account and must be linked to an Amazon retail
Create a customer account on
4 account)
AWS Skills Builder
• Your regional AAI PM will allowlist this account, this allows you to access the digital
content available to onboarding and authorized instructors.
As a prerequisite, all AWS Authorized Instructors must obtain the AWS Certified Solution
Obtain AWS Certified Solution
Architect - Associate certification. Refer to this page for guidance on this exam:
5 Architect - Associate
https://aws.amazon.com/certification/certified-solutions-architect-associate/
Certification
• Review the AAI Program Guide and AAI Onboarding Guide
to understand what is expected from an AWS Instructor
Study AAI program and • Practice official Architecting on AWS labs using the AWS Builder labs for classroom
6 course material in environment of your sponsor.
Explore • Shadow an AAI delivering an Architecting on AWS class (offered by your sponsor or
AWS) for extra tips on delivery style. We recommend this to be completed before the
ICA, once you feel comfortable with all content.
Complete the Instructor Enablement: Architecting on AWS Digital Instructor Guide (DIG),
Complete Instructor
found here, and score a minimum of 80% on the assessment. This DIG targets AAIs who
7 Enablement:
are preparing to deliver the course and includes recorded deliveries, suggested demos and
Architecting on AWS - digital
whiteboards, knowledge check questions, and tips for how to deliver the course.
Score a minimum of 80% on the AWS Authorized Instructor Candidate Fundamentals
Complete the AWS Authorized Digital Instructor Guide, found here. This course will assess your preparedness to attend an
8 Instructor Candidate ICA by demonstrating that you understand the AAI approval process and possess the
Fundamentals - digital fundamental knowledge to become an AAI.

Complete the Instructor Enablement: AWS Builder Labs which can be found here. This
Complete the Instructor
training will allow onboarding AAI to become familiar with the Builder Labs platform,
9 Enablement: AWS Builder Labs -
including creating, managing and closing a classroom environment.
digital

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In order to be approved, the AAI candidate must pass an ICA hosted by AWS.
Attend an Instructor Candidate Additional information on how to prepare for the ICA can be found below.
10
Authorization (ICA) - live

Instructor Onboarding Guidelines

ICA registration is first-come-first-served and all onboarding pre-requisites must be

completed before your registration will be approved. AWS will not hold seats for any
candidates. For the best chance to attend an upcoming ICA in your region, plan to have all
pre-requisites complete three weeks prior to the start of the ICA.

In order to ensure adequate time for all preparatory steps, a minimum ramp period of four
weeks is required to complete all onboarding and approval steps.

If an AAI candidate is unable to complete the onboarding requirements and attend an ICA
within six months they will be placed on suspended status. Candidates who wish to resume
their onboarding must contact their regional AAI Program Manager who will work with them
on restarting the process. AWS reserves the right to ask candidates to comply to a mandatory
waiting period before re-joining the program should the 6 month timeline not be met.

The AAI Program is always evolving and adapting to the needs of our customers and AAI
community. As such, AWS reserves the right to direct AAI candidates to re-complete any and/or
all of the onboarding steps at any time.

AAI Program Contacts

During your onboarding, you will be working with your Regional AAI Program Manager.
Please see contact information below:

EMEA – Melanie Le Bihan & Emma Gibson:

aai-emea@amazon.com
AMER – Christa Mendieta & Karen Suarez:
aai-amer@amazon.com
APJC – Renee Rock:
aai-apjc@amazon.com

Note: If your Regional AAI Program Manager is not available within a business day, feel free
to redirect your question to the AAI Program team’s shared inbox: aai-
program@amazon.com. The team supports requests with a follow-the-sun approach and will
always try to best support you when one of us is not available.

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AAI Program Managers are available on both emails and Chime (for urgent queries only).

Enablement Process for Architecting on AWS

AWS requires that every instructor begins their approval process with Architecting on AWS because
this course provides the starting point in terms of learning cloud best practices, architecture
patterns, case studies, and other practical approaches to architect infrastructure on AWS.
You MUST be authorized to deliver Architecting on AWS before seeking authorization to deliver
additional courses.

FYI the below enablement process is similar to enablements for other courses. The full list of
courses and enablement processes will be shared with you only once you successfully complete
your onboarding and achieve AAI status.

• Solution Architect Associate (SAA) exam: As the AAI Program is certification based, a
prerequisite to teach this course is to pass the SAA certification. You can find more detail
about this exam at https://aws.amazon.com/certification/certified-solutions-architect-
associate/. Below are tips and resources to help you prepare for the AWS Certified Solutions
Architect- Associate certification exam.
• Self-study: Once the AAI candidate is familiar with the content, they should use AWS
authorized resources in Explore to prepare for the next step. We recommend 4-6 weeks of
self-study prior to sitting for the certification exam.
• Class Observation: It is recommended that the AAI Candidate attends a minimum of one
Architecting on AWS class for exposure to content. During onboarding, please liaise with your
sponsor to get a seat to an Architecting on AWS class. Attending a new course that you are
preparing to deliver is highly recommended althrough your AAI journey because it gives you a
feel for the material, the audience, and the labs. This allows you to better understand the level
of knowledge and preparedness you must demonstrate during an AWS delivery.
o Make the best out of it by preparing well in advance, as if you will be the instructor.
Take notes, ask questions, and seek answers from the course instructor. Remember,
you are not just a student in the class, you are someone about to deliver the course.
• In addition to observing an Architecting on AWS class, AAI Candidates are requested to
complete and pass the Instructor Enablement: Architecting on AWS Digital Instructor Guide
with an 80% passing grade, as well as the AWS Authorized Candidate Fundamentals and the
Instructor Enablement: AWS Builder Labs.
• Complete an Instructor Candidate Authorization (ICA) with success

Technical Resources

Stay Current with the Latest Releases

AWS Courses are subject to numerous minor and major updates. Make sure you are always up
to date on the latest releases by visiting http://releases.awstc.com/ where you can find a list
of the latest updates in our teaching material.

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Build Your Technical Edge

There are plenty of resources available to gather AWS knowledge, starting of course with the
many official AWS courses available.

An AWS Authorized Instructor should not limit their knowledge to what is on the course
materials, but will be curious and explore the AWS platform through multiple angles.
As general guidance, here is a list of qualified sources to gather technical knowledge,
examples and most importantly a variety of narrative to learn from when presenting content
to audiences. You can access the consolidated list of links below.
- AWS YouTube Official Channel
- Hands-on experience:
o AWS Labs GitHub Repository
o AWS Quick Starts
- AWS Whitepapers
- AWS Blogs
- AWS What's New

Maintain Your Technical Edge

Staying on top of new services and features of the AWS platform is not easy and requires
persistent effort.

Suggested ways to stay on top of things, other than constantly coming back to the above
resources:
• Build and maintain your own demos
• Take AWS classes and certification exams
• Attend webinars
• Prepare for additional courses and boot camps
• Join AAI Forge monthly sessions or watch recordings if you couldn’t attend them
(2020 recordings / 2021 recordings / 2022 recordings)

Your Role as an Instructor in an AWS Class

Classroom Management

As the Instructor, you are in charge of the class and you will need to be able to handle a wide
variety of situations including (this may vary based on your organization):
• Any administrative issues that arise, such as:
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o student registrations
o buying courseware in Gilmore
o managing lab environments in AWS Builder Labs for classrooms
• Pre- and post-course administrative tasks such as email communications.
• Time management – courses typically run from 9AM to 5PM with coffee breaks and an
hour-long lunch break
• People management
• Get to know your Students, ask questions and understand their motivations and
expectations

Content Delivery

The Instructor’s primary responsibility is to present the course to the students.

This requires a good background knowledge of all the topics discussed on the course slides,
and some practical experience in using those services. There are some tips on acquiring
platform knowledge in later sections of this document

General Best Practices

• Try to be as interactive as possible; do not to fall into lecture mode.
• Encourage students to ask questions, check your students’ understanding, ask them
questions, ask for real-world use-cases and experience from the students. Some
courses explicitly have group discussions or group exercises as part of the materials,
and it’s your responsibility to facilitate those.
• Make eye contact, move around the room, use voice inflection as an instrument, vary
your tone, and emphasize key passages.
• If in a virtual setup, make sure students participate, whether via the chatroom or on
camera if they are willing to share their video (during breaks for example). Depending
on the delivery platform you are using, please identify your options for replacing
whiteboarding or any other interactive activity you would be doing if in an in-person
delivery.

You CAN:
• Change up your presentation by white boarding topics you are comfortable with.
• Integrate demos and walkthroughs to illustrate topics
• Add additional depth beyond the slides based on your experiences, student interest
and questions

You CANNOT:
• Add or modify slides (the official slides have been through Amazon legal approval)
• Halfheartedly follow the slides, or worse yet, read them to the students.

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Instructor Candidate Authorization (ICA)

At AWS Training & Certification, we pride ourselves on the high quality of both content and
style that we deliver to our customers. Since customer obsession is one of the core pillars of
our business, we have high expectations of our instructors. The purpose of Instructor
Candidate Authorization (ICA) assessment is to maintain a high bar on the standards we
require from both internal and external instructors alike.
In addition, we know that there is a great deal of material to learn when you first become an
AWS Authorized Instructor. We provide a large and complex set of services and we want to
ensure that all our instructors feel confident that they are ready to train AWS customers.
Note that at least 1 ICA is organized every month in each geo and the ICA is the only format
of approval. For Instructor Candidate Authorization dates in your region, please e-mail your
Regional AAI Program Manager.

Preparing for the ICA

The ICA is not a 'train the trainer' session – participants are expected to arrive ready to deliver
the course. In practice, this means that participants should have already seen the course
delivered by another instructor and should have spent time familiarizing themselves with the
course materials, including the labs. Make sure you are using the current version of the
materials! You can always check it at http://releases.awstc.com/and download updated
materials from Explore if necessary.

As part of your preparation for the ICA, you should go through the Instructor Enablement:
Architecting on AWS Digital Instructor Guide. We prepared this DIG not only to pre-assess you
before the ICA, but also to grant you the keys for success. This DIG includes examples of a
senior trainer delivering this course, as well as important trainer resources, tips and
suggestions to get you prepared for delivery.

The Instructor Enablement: Architecting on AWS contains a long list of other potential
prep materials, including selections from all of the following.

• The AWS Documentation, at https://aws.amazon.com/documentation/

• The AWS White Paper library at https://aws.amazon.com/whitepapers/
• The customer success stories at https://aws.amazon.com/solutions/case-studies/
• The AWS YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/user/AmazonWebServices
• The AWS Slide Share library at http://www.slideshare.net/AmazonWebServices

It is a good idea to know at least something about every AWS service, but do not attempt to
deep-dive on everything, or you’ll never be ready to deliver your first course. It is also worth

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knowing which other AWS courses are available (https://aws.amazon.com/training/course-

descriptions/), so you can refer students to more advanced training if they have complex
questions that are outside the scope of the current course.

What to Expect During the ICA

ICA’s are recorded for training and coaching purposes. The ICA will be based on the materials
for the “Architecting on AWS” course. Participants should be thoroughly familiar with the
course, and arrive at the ICA ready to deliver any part of it.

The AWS Authorizer leading the ICA will present:

● Tools that can be used during training
● Pointers around correct messaging
● Tips, tricks and demos that the instructor uses during his/her deliveries
● Additional information around the relevant course and/or topic

The ICA participants will:

• Take turns to present topics from the list presented by the instructor
• Be prepared to demo and whiteboard topics
• When not presenting, behave as a regular class (e.g. ask questions)
• Be prepared to troubleshoot common lab issues and help other participants through the
common lab challenges

The structure of the ICA is as follows.

Day 1:
• Authorizer presentation: Introductions, goals of the ICA, ICA Evaluation
Standards, resources, proper messaging and tips for delivery.
• Authorizer will then present a list of topics (each topic is about 10-15 slides from
the course, covering a particular service or concept, and each topic takes about 20
minutes to deliver). Please refer to Appendix A for additional details.
• Participants will each deliver one topic of their own choice.
• Participants will each deliver one topic of the instructor's choice.
• Before the end of the day, participants all select their topics for day 2, so as to
have a chance to prepare.

Day 2:
• The rest of the day proceeds like day 1 - two presentations, one chosen by the
participant and one by the instructor - except that now the rule is to present
the topics without using the PowerPoint slides, just using demos and white
boarding. (A "demo" might be nothing more than walking through how to use

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the console to create a resource; it doesn't have to be something highly

advanced and complex.)
Day 3:
• Instructor presentation: Walkthrough of AWS Builder Labs, tips for managing
labs.
• Instructor presentation: Gilmore and resources for self-study
• Participants will be presented with a Jam (online gameified lab environment).
While they are competing in the Jam, the authorizer will summon the
candidates one by one and present them with a lab issue. The candidate is
expected to guide the authorizer to a solution without fixing it for them.

Criteria for Evaluation

The basic criterion for approval of a new instructor is this: “Is this instructor ready to deliver
the entire course, solo, immediately after the end of this ICA?” An instructor who does not
meet this criterion will not be approved for delivery.
ICA Evaluation Standards:
• Teaching Strategies
o Provides concrete examples and use cases to compliment slide content.
o Leverages effective analogies (or other methods for teaching to one’s current
knowledge) to help students understand new and difficult topics.
o Provides students with opportunities for spaced retrieval practice via knowledge
checks, polling, classroom Q&A, etc.
o Facilitates discussion with students that deepens learning.
o Defines key terminology and acronyms the first time they are presented.
o Explains the why (and/or the why students should care) behind concepts and
topics where appropriate to enhance learning and understanding.
• Technical Knowledge
o Demonstrates the appropriate level of technical knowledge and skills to help
students reach the course learning outcomes.
• Messaging
o Stays within the AWS messaging guidelines when speaking and answering
questions.
o Uses inclusive language during delivery.
• Classroom Management
o Is on time with their delivery per the time estimates in the course agenda.
o Keeps the class conversation on topic.
o Provides opportunities for students to ask questions and is able to find
opportunities to answer those questions while staying on time.
o Effectively deals with difficult-to-handle customer questions, comments or
criticisms.
o Effectively manages classroom technology (e.g. for vILT delivery this includes
managing session audio and visuals like screensharing, etc.)
• Instructor Delivery Style

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o Modulates their voice to avoid sounding monotone.

o Brings an energy to their delivery that increases engagement with students.
o Is confident in their delivery.
o Admits when they don’t know the answer to a student question, but takes time
outside of delivery to research the answer and shares it with the student.
o Avoids regularly using filler words or other distracting habits during delivery.
o Uses body language effectively and doesn’t distract with physical movements.
• Delivery Flow
o Avoids reading directly from the slides and/or slide notes and instead summarizes
the main points in their own words.
o Delivers the slides in a way that make them feel like they are a part of a cohesive
narrative, including, if applicable, effectively transitioning between course
sections, demos and labs.
o Keeps the delivery aligned to the course objectives and prerequisite knowledge
for students (i.e. candidate doesn’t go too deep or stay too shallow, or start to
teach to topics not aligned to course objectives).
o Summarizes main concepts before moving on to subsequent sections.
• Whiteboarding and Demos
o Effectively applies whiteboarding and content annotation (e.g. drawing on slides)
to visually represent and/or highlight important concepts being taught.
o Leverages demos effectively to showcase important services/processes that align
to learning outcomes.
• Lab Troubleshooting
o Is able to effectively troubleshoot technical issues that students encounter during
course labs.
o Helps students discover answers to their lab questions on their own opposed to
answering all the questions for them.

We do not take the following things into consideration when assessing new instructors.
• Training style
• Language barriers (since instructors might deliver in their native language)
• Previous career background

Roles and Responsibilities during the ICA

● The AWS authorizer leading the ICA is expected to:

○ Be available to answer participants’ questions
○ Evaluate and provide feedback to each candidate at the end of each presentation,
whiteboard or demo, focusing on what needs to be improved
○ Evaluate and provide feedback on virtual delivery skills in order to provide vILT
Authorization (Freelance and Internal Candidates only)
○ Aggregate the feedback at the end of the ICA, and report the results to the

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participants and to the Regional AAI Program Manager within two business
days.
● Participants are expected to demonstrate knowledge of:
○ All course content and materials.
○ Whitepapers mentioned or covered in the course.
○ User stories and case studies that highlight services discussed in the course.
○ The instructor guide (including where to find the errata for the labs).

After the ICA

• If you were not approved: you should have received feedback from the ICA instructor.
We recommend waiting one month before attempting an ICA a second time. If your
second attempt is unsuccessful, AWS will ask you to wait six months until a third
attempt. If you are unsuccessful after a third attempt, you will be asked to wait 12
months before attempting a fourth time.
Please note that there are no conditional approvals. A candidate is not approved to
deliver any AWS courses until they have passed an ICA.

• If you were approved: congratulations, and welcome to the AAI Program! Your
regional AAI Program Manager will follow up with you on administrative parts and
answer any question you might have at this stage
• In addition to Architecting on AWS, once the AAI candidate is officially approved and
after completing the Digital Instructor Guide (DIG) in skillbuilder, they will be enabled to
deliver:
o AWS Cloud Practitioner Essentials
o AWS Technical Essentials
o Exam Readiness: Architecting on AWS Associate
• Please refer to the AAI Delivery Enablement Guide for information on how to become
approved to deliver additional courses (only available to you in VitalSource Explore once
you are approved, under the “AAI Everboarding” folder in Explore)
• Keep up to date by following Jeff Barr’s blog (https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/aws/) and
the “What’s New” feed (https://aws.amazon.com/new/).
• Keep in touch! Specifically:
o Feedback on the materials (bugs, typos etc.) should be addressed to the
curriculum team via this link: https://support.aws.amazon.com/#/contacts/aws-
training
o We strongly recommend joining our training chat room! Download Chime from
https://chime.aws/ (there are desktop and mobile clients) and ask your regional
AAI PM to add you to the “AWS Hybrid Training Q&A” room. This room is open
to all internal and approved external instructors, and is the best place to ask
questions if you need an answer quickly or if you want to discuss any AWS T&C
related topic with fellow trainers. For urgent delivery related issues please use
“AWS T&C Hybrid HOTLINE (external room)”
o Join our monthly AAI Forge sessions on WebEx (agenda and dial-in details are
shared by your Regional AAI Program Manager before every session)

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Course Materials, Trainer Resources, and Labs

Course Materials

AWS official course materials are created by the AWS Training and Certification Curriculum
Development team, and are distributed as eBooks via Gilmore to students.

Students generally receive two eBook’s, one with the presentation content and the other with the
lab instructions. Architecting on AWS lab guides are currently offered in this format. Please refer to
releases.awstc.com/ to understand what the latest version of the content to use in class is.

Instructors can access instructor guides and PowerPoint presentation files via Explore; these are
not to be distributed to students.

Almost all AWS courses contain self-guided labs for the students; with the exception of Exam
Readiness courses. These are created and maintained by the Curriculum Development team.

During the course delivery, Instructors must present only the AWS official course materials which
cannot be edited or customized. All materials may be found in Explore.

Trainer Resources

VitalSource Explore User Guide

Explore is a resource where instructors can find:

• Official training materials
• Teaching resources to get better prepared to teach AWS courses
• AAI Program Materials (AAI Program Guide, Onboarding Guide, etc.)
***Important:
• The course deck ZIP files are attached to the Instructor Guide not the Student Guide or
Lab Guides.
• Users will not see all AWS Instructor content, but only the content in the groups to
which they’re assigned.
• The paper clip icon to download the deck is only available for Instructor Guides. ***

Prerequisites
• Verify your access here: https://aws.vitalsource.com/#/user/signin
o If you log in to your account and do not have access to Instructor Guide content,
please send an email to the AAI program alias or your Regional PM with your
VitalSource email and a screenshot of the issue. Please note access is only
granted after the candidate has signed the AIA contract and the Regional PM
have notified them it is now available in their VitalSource account.

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Tips and Tricks

• Make sure you are always downloading the most recent version of the deck.
• All Slide Decks are attached to the Instructor Guide.
• Make sure you are downloading the correct language found at the end of the course
title (i.e. EN- English, KO-Korean, ES-Spanish, JP-Japanese).
• All previously accessed content is located in a user’s Library tab.
• Net new users will need to create an account and verify their email
• Users can still utilize the Bookshelf applications for offline access
(https://support.vitalsource.com/hc/en-us/articles/201344733-Download-
Bookshelf) and see the same experience as documented above from online.
• Zip files are not opened in Bookshelf, but instead are downloaded locally to a user’s
machine.

Support
• Additional Bookshelf features and support articles can be
found here: https://support.vitalsource.com/hc/en-
us/categories/360001056774
• Users can reach out to VitalSource Support directly by using the below URL and
selecting “LIVE CHAT “for assistance 24/7: https://support.vitalsource.com/hc/en-
us/requests/new

Logging into your account in VitalSource

Creating a new account
Select the “Create an account” button.

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Fill out the form and set up your password. Please note that you will receive a verification email to
the designated account once you select “Create”. You can click the link in the verification email
and be prompted to log in with your chosen email address and password

Resetting an existing account

If you are unable to log in to your account and your email is showing as already in use, please
select the “Forgot password” option.

Enter your email address and you will receive an email with a link to reset your password. Once
reset, you will be redirected back to the main log in page.

Navigating Course Content in VitalSource

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Navigate to the Groups tab. (https://aws.vitalsource.com/#/groups)

Hover over the course thumbnail and the “View Group” button will appear. Whilst onboarding
Architecting on AWS should be used to prepare.

Find the most recent version of the course and select “Open Book” in the browser to view the
content.

Once you have viewed the group, verify the course is now appearing in the Library tab.
(https://aws.vitalsource.com/#/)

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You can also navigate using the Explore tab by using the search bar.
(https://aws.vitalsource.com/#/explore)

Downloading the course content (2 methods)

Navigate to the Groups tab and hover over the course you have already opened to reveal the
paper clip.

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OR
Navigate to the Library tab and select paper clip.

Technical Resources

Stay Current with the Latest Releases

AWS Courses are subject to numerous minor and major updates. Make sure you are always up
to date on the latest releases by visiting http://releases.awstc.com/ where you can find a list
of the latest updates in our teaching material.

Build Your Technical Edge

There are plenty of resources available to gather AWS knowledge, starting of course with the
official AWS Trainings available.
An AWS Trainer should not limit their knowledge to what is on the course materials, but will
be curious and explore the AWS platform through multiple angles.

As general guidance, here is a list of qualified sources to gather technical knowledge,

examples and most importantly a variety of narrative to learn from when presenting content
to audiences.

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- AWS YouTube Official Channel

- Hands-on experience:
o AWS Labs GitHub Repository
o AWS Quick Starts
- AWS Whitepapers
- AWS Blogs
- AWS What's New

Managing your class in AWS Builder Labs

Labs are provided through AWS Builder Labs for classroom. You should ask your sponsor’s Admin
POC to create a classroom and add you to their Builder Lab environment to practice Architecting
on AWS labs during your onboarding. Should you face an error when logging on please reach out
to your AAI Program Manager. Please note the email used to access AWS Builder Labs must be
linked to an Amazon retail account. We recommend using the same email as your skillbuilder
account to allow the systems to flow seamlessly. Later on, once approved, you are supposed to
know how to manage the virtual environment administrative tasks such as student enrollment,
lab activation and any issues that might arise (this may be shared with your sponsors Lab Admin)
If you are joining us as a Freelance trainer, please coordinate AWS Builder Lab access with your
AAI PM. As a reminder the AWS Builder Labs DIG contains useful knowledge on how to navigate
the environemt

Resources for Preparing to Obtain AWS Certifications

Having strong, hands-on AWS knowledge is a great benefit when preparing for certification exams
but might not be enough. Please review the following resources when preparing:
• AWS Exam Blueprints & Whitepapers
o The Exam blueprints will give the student guidance on what the exams will cover,
broken down in sections and corresponding weights. This will help students in
focusing their preparation effort and assessing their knowledge.
• AWS Self-Paced Labs
o For the necessary hands-on part of the exam preparation, AWS self-paced labs will
provide hands-on practice in a live AWS environment with AWS services and real-
world cloud scenarios
• AWS FAQs
o AWS services FAQs are a great source of knowledge, especially for the associate
level certification exams as many of the questions in the exams themselves have
their answers in this section. Review it carefully before sitting for one of the
certifications exams.
• AWS Certified Solutions Architect Official Study Guide: Associate Exam
o The official study guide will provide all the necessary information to pass the
exam. Go through the review questions first to assess your knowledge and then
work backwards through the content to cover for any weak areas.

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v4.9.3 October 2022

Appendix A: ICA Topics:

01: Architecting Fundamentals: AWS Infrastructure & AWS Well-Architected Framework

(Module 1, slides 9-22)
02: Account Security: Principals and identities (Module 2, slides 5-18)
03: Account Security: Security Policies (Module 2, slides 19-31)
04: Networking 1: VPC fundamentals (Module 3, slides 11-27)
05: Compute: EC2 Instances (Module 4, slides 8-29)
06: Compute: Storage for EC2 Instances & Amazon EC2 pricing options (Module 4, slides 30-
42)
07: Storage: Storage services & Amazon S3 (Module 5. slides 5-18)
08: Storage: Storage classes, Glacier & S3 Features (Module 5, slides 19-31)
09: Databases: Database Services & Amazon RDS (Module 6, slides 5-22)
10: Databases: DynamoDB (Module 6, slides 23-31)
11: Databases: Caching & Database migration tools (Module 6, slides 32-43)
12. Monitoring and Scaling: Monitoring (Module 7, slides 5-18)
13. Monitoring and Scaling: Alarms and Events & Load Balancing (Module 7, slides 19-30)
14: Monitoring and Scaling: Auto Scaling (Module 7. slides 31-46)
15: Automation: Cloudformation & Infrastructure management (Module 8, slides 5-27)
16: Containers: Microservices & Containers (Module 9, slides 5-14)
17: Container: Container Services (Module 9, slides 15-25)
18: Networking 2: VPC Endpoints & VPC peering (Module 10, slides 5-15)
19. Networking 2: Hybrid networking & AWS Transit Gateway (Module 10, slides 20-32)
20. Serverless: What is serverless? & API Gateway (Module 11, slide 5-12)
21: Serverless: Amazon SNS, Amazon Kinesis & AWS Step Functions (Module 11, slides 20-33)
22: Edge Services: Edge Fundamentals & Route 53 CloudFront (Module 12, slides 5-17)
23: Edge Services: Amazon CloudFront & DDoS Protection (Module 12, slides 18-36)
24: Backup and Recovery: Disaster Planning (Module 13, slides 5-15)
25: Backup and Recovery: AWS Backup & Recovery Strategies (Module 13, slides 16-31)

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If youOctober
v4.9.3 have questions
2022 or comments about this documentation, submit your
feedback to aai-program@amazon.com.

If you have questions or comments about this documentation, submit your

feedback to aai-program@amazon.com.

20 aws.amazon.com/training