How to build an AIA continuing education course that architects book

An AIA member has to earn 18 learning units a year from registered AIA/CES providers, and 12 of them must be in health, safety and welfare, according to AIA’s requirements page. The requirement is why AIA continuing education works for manufacturers. Architects need the hours, and a good HSW course on a topic they care about gets booked again and again.

For a manufacturer, becoming a provider costs $2,800 to $19,055 for 2027, depending on the subscription, with no per-course fees. Getting a course approved takes a topic your product touches but does not own, at least four learning objectives, three-quarters of the content on HSW, and no selling at all. Getting it booked takes a course page that lists your titles and lets an architect request one in a single step, which only three of the 10 manufacturers we checked offer.

Our guide to getting written into the spec covers why continuing education belongs in a spec-driven sales plan, and how five manufacturers’ specifier pages handle it alongside guide specs and BIM.

What does it cost to become an AIA CE provider?

AIA sells provider access as an annual subscription that runs on the calendar year and is valid through Dec. 31, with renewals typically opening in early September. The 2027 prices on AIA’s provider page, checked Oct. 26, 2026:

Subscription	2027 price	What AIA says it covers
Portal	$2,800	One approved course per calendar year; for new providers or those without a subscription in the past three years
Passport	$4,950	Online and live courses anywhere in the world; “used by most organizations”
Platform	$19,055	Not described on the page
Professional	$1,500	Accredited academic institutions, government agencies, nonprofits
Architecture Firm	$625	Firms owned by an AIA member or with at least one AIA-member principal

For a manufacturer, the realistic choices are Portal and Passport. AIA says the subscription is “all-inclusive,” with no fees for submitting courses or reporting attendance. Joining takes little time. You read the standards, apply online, pay, and then submit courses through the CE dashboard.

Portal is the right start for a company building its first course. At $2,800 it costs a little more than half of Passport and covers one course a year, which is all most first-year programs can produce well. Move to Passport when you have a second course ready.

What gets an AIA course approved?

The rules are in AIA’s Standards for Continuing Education Programs, still the October 2018 edition on the provider page. These are the ones that shape how a manufacturer writes a course.

1. No selling, anywhere in the instruction. Standard S7-01 says programs “are not sales or marketing events and must not promote or market products or services,” and that marketing or promotional materials may not be “incorporated into the instructional portion of any program.” S5-05 rules out materials “that endorse specific products, brands, organizations, or individuals.” Keep your product line out of the instruction entirely.
2. Seventy-five percent HSW. For HSW credit, 75% of the content and instructional time, and at least 75% of the learning objectives, must be on HSW topics. AIA defines HSW in terms of occupants: health that improves their physical, emotional and social well-being, safety that protects them from harm, and welfare that enables equitable access.
3. At least four learning objectives. Write them as things the architect can do afterward, such as “identify the code sections that govern” or “compare three methods of.”
4. A contact hour of at least 50 minutes for each learning unit, and a minimum of one full unit awarded for a standard course.
5. A cumulative passing score of at least 70% on the assessment for on-demand courses.
6. A signed AIA CES speaker agreement, or an equivalent consent form, for each instructor. For HSW programs, AIA recommends consulting at least one licensed architect. Having an architect review the draft also catches the slides that drift into a pitch.
7. Approval before delivery. Submit at least 10 business days ahead. AIA’s provider page says reviews typically take four to seven days. An approval lasts up to three years.
8. Attendance verified by the provider. A learner’s self-certification is not enough; sign-in sheets, check-in software or badge scans are.

Changes may be coming, since AIA has posted a proposed revision of the standards for a 60-day public comment period; the file sits in AIA’s September 2026 uploads, and its cover reads Version 2027.1.1, January 2027. The core rules above are unchanged in the draft. It adds detail on assessments, including no true-or-false questions in a summative assessment and at least 30 days for learners to retake a failed one, and it says product-specific programs can qualify only if “structured to provide objective, educational content.” AIA had not adopted the draft as of Oct. 26, 2026, when its provider page still linked the 2018 edition. After the comment period, revisions go to AIA’s Board of Directors for adoption, so check the adopted version before you submit.

1. 1

   Pick an HSW topic bigger than your product

   A competitor's product could appear in the same slides without breaking the course

2. 2

   Write at least four learning objectives

   75% of the content, time and objectives on health, safety and welfare

3. 3

   Have a licensed architect review the draft

   AIA recommends it for HSW programs, and it catches slides that drift into a pitch

4. 4

   Submit at least 10 business days before delivery

   AIA's provider page says reviews typically take four to seven days

5. 5

   Deliver and verify attendance

   Sign-in sheets, check-in software or badge scans; self-certification is not enough

6. 6

   Report and reuse

   An approval lasts up to three years

No product promotion anywhere in the instruction (Standard S7-01). Source: AIA, Standards for Continuing Education Programs (October 2018); AIA, Become an AIA continuing education provider, checked Oct. 26, 2026.

What 10 manufacturers’ AIA continuing education pages show

We read the AIA continuing education pages of 10 building products manufacturers on Oct. 26, 2026, and recorded what an architect could see and do on each one.

Manufacturer	Course titles on the page	Credit shown	Formats named	How to book
Construction Specialties	16 courses, plus a linked academy worth up to 8 LUs	LU/HSW per course; IDCEC on several	On demand or live; AEC Daily library; academy on BNP Media’s CE platform	Request form
Graham Architectural Products	8	1 LU/HSW per course	With a Graham instructor	Contact local rep; PDF course menu
Bobrick	6	LU/HSW per course with AIA course numbers; IDCEC on five	AEC Daily, Hanley Wood University, or at your firm	Scheduling form
SFS	2	“One AIA learning unit”	Free lunch and learn	Phone or email
Kawneer	1 upcoming webinar (Nov. 19, 2026)	1 LU/HSW	Live webinars; separate on-demand page	Register button to a registration page
Inpro	None on the page	“All requested CEU presentations are HSW and AIA accredited”	Written courses and live webinars via BNP Media’s CE platform, on-demand ADA Academy, lunch and learn	Request button
National Gypsum	Behind links	1.0 LU/HSW stated for recent on-demand webinars	In person, online via Ron Blank, on demand	Sign-up prompt, no form
Savaria	None on the page	1 LU/HSW	In person or online	Form
EDCO Products	None on the page	AIA, type not stated	Online via Hanley Wood University; lunch and learn	Contact form or phone
Simpson Strong-Tie	Count not stated (“many”)	LU/HSW	Online training with a user profile	Architect adds AIA number to profile; credits forwarded to AIA the first week of the next month

Five of the 10 pages list course titles. Four show the credit type course by course. Five give the architect a course request, scheduling or registration step on the page; three send them to a rep, a phone number, an email or a general contact form. Five name at least one outside platform where the courses also live. Only three, Construction Specialties, Bobrick and Kawneer, both list titles and offer a request or registration step.

The titles that are visible show how the best manufacturers pick topics. Graham teaches “Fenestration Requirements for Wind-borne Debris Regions” and “Blast Hazard Mitigation.” Bobrick teaches “Specifying Code-Compliant Toilet Partitions” and “A Planning Guide for Accessible Restrooms.” Construction Specialties teaches “Combating HAIs in the Healthcare Built Environment Through Design & Product Selection.” Each is a problem the architect carries liability for and that the manufacturer’s product helps solve without being the only answer.

How to pick a topic architects will book

Start with the question your technical team answers most often on the phone. If architects keep calling about wind-borne debris requirements, accessible clearances or fire ratings, you have a course, and your engineers already have the answer.

Then test it against three filters. It must be HSW, so it has to connect to occupant health, safety or welfare. It must be broader than your product, so a competitor’s product could appear in the same slides without breaking the course. And it should be specific to a building type or code. Graham’s “Window Selection for Schools” tells a school architect the hour is for them in a way a generic “Window Basics” would not.

Where architects find courses

Architects use CE heavily. In AIA’s Architect’s Journey to Specification 2023, produced with Deltek, ConstructConnect and Anguleris from a survey of 183 architects, 83% used continuing education and webinars to keep up with product trends, and 77% said they like to learn about manufacturers’ products through in-person lunch and learns (pages 17 and 20). Smaller firms were less likely to prefer in-person lunch and learns (62%, against 90% at larger firms), and the report notes that smaller-firm respondents also prefer on-demand options from manufacturers (page 20).

The findings point to running the same course two ways: live, presented by a rep or a technical person at the firm, and on demand on a platform architects already browse, such as AEC Daily, Hanley Wood University or BNP Media’s CE platform, all of which appear on the pages above. Your own page should list every course, its credit, its formats and a one-step request form.

How to know whether it is working

Track three things from the first session: requests by firm, sessions delivered and attendees reported to AIA. Most important, ask the rep who presents to log the firm and any active projects discussed in your CRM, and check six to 12 months later whether those projects named you. If 40 firms booked a course and it shows up in spec wins, it is worth a second course on the next topic. If nobody requests a course, retitle it before you revise the slides. A course that books steadily is also worth pitching to the trade press, and our directory of trade publications lists how to reach Architectural Record and the other building products editors.

What to do Monday

Pull your technical support log or ask your inside team for the 10 questions architects ask most. Pick the one that is HSW, code-driven and bigger than your product. Draft four learning objectives for it, find a licensed architect to review the outline, and price the Portal subscription for 2027. Then fix your CE page so it lists the course, the credit and a request form before you have even submitted it.