The Course Handbook is a PDF you can keep: course facts, learning outcomes, the full week by week syllabus, assessment weightings and the spoken defence. Or print this page straight from your browser for the same layout.
Why this course exists
Learn hands-on skills for building, deploying, and optimizing LLM solutions across Google Cloud Vertex AI, Azure AI, and multimodal workflows. At Forward this is taught from inside an institution that runs on these systems every day, so the course teaches the working practice rather than the marketing. It sits in Certification Preparation, aimed at professionals chasing a recognised badge. Nothing is assumed. Every term is defined the first time it is used.
Who it is for
· Professionals chasing a recognised badge
· People starting from zero who want to stop guessing
· Anyone who needs evidence of capability, not a certificate of attendance
· Forward University and Forward College applicants building a case for recognition of prior learning
Not for you if
· You want a certificate without building anything.
· You cannot commit 3 hours a week for 6 weeks.
· You are looking for an NCHE-accredited award. This is a professional micro-credential, and we say so in public.
· You already do this professionally and want a research-level treatment.
Entry: No entry requirements. Bring a laptop, a real task from your own week, and a willingness to be wrong in public.
What you will be able to do
01Explain, in your own words and to a sceptical colleague, what this course covers and where it stops.
02Work confidently with the exam as it really is.
03Work confidently with core domain drill.
04Work confidently with second domain drill.
05Work confidently with weak-spot repair.
06Work confidently with full mock under timing.
07Produce the course project: A full mock exam attempt plus a gap plan for the topics you missed.
08Judge when to use these methods, when to refuse, and who remains accountable for the output.
09Carry the work forward into certification preparation at Forward, or into a longer path.
The full syllabus, week by week
Every week has one live session, self-paced material, and a build task that becomes part of your final project. Nothing here is a reading list.
Week 1
The exam as it really is
Blueprint, question styles, weightings and the scoring rules candidates misread.
You do
Sit a short diagnostic and score yourself against the blueprint.
Checkpoint
A short build task, marked against the published rubric before the next live session.
Week 2
Core domain drill
The highest-weighted domain, taught to exam depth rather than trivia depth.
You do
Work the domain question bank and log every wrong answer's reason.
Checkpoint
A short build task, marked against the published rubric before the next live session.
Week 3
Second domain drill
The next heaviest domain, with the practical labs the exam assumes you have done.
You do
Complete the labs and re-drill the questions you failed.
Checkpoint
A short build task, marked against the published rubric before the next live session.
Week 4
Weak-spot repair
Targeted revision built from your own error log, not a generic revision list.
You do
Close your three largest gaps and re-test them.
Checkpoint
A short build task, marked against the published rubric before the next live session.
Week 5
Full mock under timing
A timed full-length attempt, then an analysis of pace as well as accuracy.
You do
Sit the timed mock and analyse both errors and time spent.
Checkpoint
A short build task, marked against the published rubric before the next live session.
Week 6
Gap plan and booking
An honest readiness verdict and a dated plan to the exam itself.
You do
Write the gap plan and prepare your defence of it.
Checkpoint
Project submitted, then the spoken defence with a human assessor.
Save the whole syllabus and the learning outcomes as a PDF, or print this page.
The project, and how it is marked
You build: A full mock exam attempt plus a gap plan for the topics you missed.
40%
Weekly build tasks
Small pieces of the project, submitted each week and marked against a published rubric. Late is fine; missing is not.
40%
The course project
A full mock exam attempt plus a gap plan for the topics you missed.
20%
Spoken defence
About fifteen minutes with a human assessor, who asks you why you made the choices you made. Mastery, not averaging: you may re-sit the defence.
The spoken defence
· Fifteen minutes, online, with a human assessor.
· You show the thing you built and answer why, not what.
· Mastery standard: if you do not meet it, you re-sit rather than average out.
· The result and the assessor are recorded on your verified credential.
How Musomesa helps
· Available every hour of the week, and it has read the same course material you have.
· It will not hand you the answer to a graded task. It will ask you what you have tried.
· It flags when your reasoning is confident and wrong, which is the whole point of the course.
· Your instructor sees the same progress signals, so the live session starts where you actually are.
What you need
A cloud account with free-tier access
Git and GitHub
A terminal
A general-purpose AI assistant
Musomesa, your Forward AI tutor
Who teaches FA-1109, and how to get help
FA-1109 is taught by a small team rather than one overloaded lecturer. This is an introductory course, so your lead instructor is chosen for teaching clarity above all else. Your named team is confirmed by email before the cohort opens; the roles and the hours below are fixed.
Lead Instructor
A working practitioner in certification preparation, teaching this course alongside their own practice.
· Runs the weekly live session and answers questions in it
· Sets and reviews the weekly build task
· Holds one evening office hour every week of the course
Promise: Reads and responds to every question raised in the live session or the cohort channel.
Studio Coach
A Forward coach attached to your cohort for the whole course, not per session.
· One-to-one help when a build task stalls
· Weekend office hour for learners in other timezones or on shift work
· Keeping your project on track for the 6-week deadline
Promise: If you are stuck for more than 48 hours, the coach reaches out to you first.
Assessment Examiner
An examiner who did not teach you, so marking is independent of teaching.
· Marks the project against the published weightings
· Runs your short spoken defence
· Issues the verified micro-credential to your Achievement Wallet
Promise: Written feedback with every mark, and a stated route to a second opinion.
Musomesa, your AI tutor
Available on this course at any hour, on top of the human team above, never instead of it.
· Answers course questions between sessions, in context of this syllabus
· Walks you through worked examples at your pace
· Flags to your Studio Coach when you are repeatedly stuck
Promise: Musomesa never marks your work and never issues your credential. People do that.
Office hours
When
Time
Who
Format
Every Tuesday
20:00 – 21:30 EAT
Lead Instructor
Open video room. Bring your build task, no agenda needed, drop in and out.
Every Saturday
08:30 – 10:00 EAT
Studio Coach
Bookable 20-minute one-to-one slots for anything you would rather not ask in a group.
Any day
24 hours
Musomesa
Chat tutor inside the course, grounded in this syllabus and your own submitted work.
Defence week
Booked with you
Assessment Examiner
A short spoken defence of your project, scheduled around your timezone in week 6.
All times are East Africa Time (UTC+3). If you are outside East Africa, tell your Studio Coach at enrolment and the weekend slot is moved into your working day, not ours.
How to get help
Cohort channel
Course questions, tool problems, sharing progress with the rest of the cohort.
Response: Same day on weekdays, from an instructor or coach.
Musomesa, in-course tutor
Explanations, worked examples, unblocking a build task at 2am.
Response: Immediate, any hour.
Office hours
Anything that needs a person looking at your actual work with you.
Response: Two working days, with the reference from your enrolment.
If you get stuck, in order
01Ask Musomesa first. Most blockers are explained in under a minute.
02Still stuck after a day? Post in the cohort channel so the instructor and your peers both see it.
03Still stuck at the next office hour? Bring the work itself, not a summary of it.
04Unhappy with a mark or the course? Email Academy support and ask for the Assessment Examiner's second-opinion route. It is a published process, not a favour.
Named instructors, their biographies and cohort-specific hours are published with each cohort as it opens. We do not list staff on a course page before they are contracted to teach it.
Questions people ask about FA-1109
Are there any prerequisites for FA-1109?
No formal qualifications are required for Academy courses. No entry requirements. Bring a laptop, a real task from your own week, and a willingness to be wrong in public.
How much time does the course take each week?
LLMs in the Cloud runs for 6 weeks at 3 hours a week. Each week has one live session, self-paced material, and a build task that becomes part of your final project.
How is the course assessed?
There are no exams. You are assessed on weekly build tasks (40%), the course project (40%), spoken defence (20%), including a short spoken defence of the project you build.
How does Musomesa support me on the course?
Musomesa, Forward's AI tutor, works alongside your human instructor. Available every hour of the week, and it has read the same course material you have.
What does FA-1109 cost?
Fee confirmed before the first cohort. No payment is taken when you enrol; the Academy team confirms the fee and your cohort start date by email.
Learning paths that include FA-1109
A path is three courses taken in order with one combined Statement of Capability at the end. These are the paths recommended for a introductory course in this track.
14 weeks · next step
The AI-Ready Professional
For: Anyone in salaried work who wants their week back
A sensible next step once you have finished a beginner course in this track.
Prepare for the AIF-C01 AWS Certified AI Practitioner certification exam covering machine learning basics, AI services, data preparation and model deployment.
Length
4 weeks
Commitment
2 hours
You build: A full mock exam attempt plus a gap plan for the topics you missed.
You earn: Verified micro, credential: Certification Readiness
