Training Resources

AWS Educate is a free training platform for individuals to gain knowledge about cloud services in an effort to obtain an IT position or AWS certification. Course materials are available in 14 languages. It no longer supports classroom instruction with AWS credits, but now provides free lab exercises for individuals. To access the instructional materials, go to AWS Educate. Select a language from the pull down menu. Use the Register Now link on the sign-in page to register for AWS Educate.

AWS Skill Builder is a free training platform that allows you to use AWS resources. There are also paid subscription levels of participation that unlocks more courses.

AWS re/Start is a cohort-based workforce development training program. This program is free for the learner. Various organizations are available for group instruction in select states across the country.

AWS Academy is a free training platform for classroom instruction. AWS Academy requires an instructor to organize and present the course materials. The instructor must be added to AWS Academy by the Cloud Team to gain access to the course materials. To be added to AWS Academy, send an email to aws-support@illinois.edu with the following information:

• Your name
• Title
• Department
• Address
• Phone
• Language preference
• LinkedIn Biography URL

The Cloud Team will nominate you as an AWS Academy instructor using the following instructions:

• Sign in to the AWS Academy portal: https://www.awsacademy.com/
• Select the orange Nominate an Educator button
• On the New tab, enter the faculty information
• Choose AWS Academy Foundation Level as the curriculum

After being added as an Educator, you can access AWS Academy:

• Sign in to the AWS Academy portal: https://www.awsacademy.com/
• Select LMS from the navigation and complete the brief Educator Orientation course. Complete the Managing Classes Course to help gain foundational knowledge of implementing the cloud curriculum.
• Your LMS dashboard will populate with several courses.
• As part of the available courses, focus on AWS Academy Cloud Foundations. This is your professional learning course. Use this course to learn more about cloud computing, experience hands-on labs, and prepare for the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner exam (if desired).
• To create a course for students to enroll in, click the Account icon and choose Create a Course. From here you can enter the information regarding your course and invite students via their email

Certifications & Discounts

You can enroll in AWS Educate and AWS Skill Builder at any time. Both are useful in gaining skills and preparing for a certification exam. AWS Educate offers discounts on vouchers for certain AWS certifications through their Emerging Talent Community (ETC) program. This program allows participants to earn points by completing AWS Skill Builder training and other activities. These points can then be used for rewards, including discounted AWS Certification vouchers. These vouchers are valid for Foundational and Associate level certifications. 

Discounts on vouchers for AWS certifications are available from time to time. There have been many discounts offered over the years. Here are some example current and expired offers from 2025 and 2024.

You can obtain a discount off any AWS exam if you have already successfully passed any AWS exam. Discounts are found through the Certmetrics portal. The discount eligibility expires when the AWS Certification that earned it expires (AWS Certifications are valid for 3 years). More info at: https://aws.amazon.com/certification/benefits/.

You can also directly purchase vouchers for the certification tests from the testing vendors: https://aws.amazon.com/certification/bulk-voucher/

• $100 for AWS Foundational Certification Exam Voucher
• $150 for AWS Associate Level Certification Voucher
• $300 for AWS Professional and Specialty Certification Voucher

More info at AWS Certification Policies.

Questions? Send an email to aws-support@illinois.edu.