Do I need a teaching qualification to take this course?

No. It assumes subject mastery from Levels 2 to 5 and teaches the instruction skills from the beginning. Experienced trainers will still find new material in the small-business audience specifics, the curriculum-maintenance discipline, and the instructor ethics module.

What is the teach-back?

You prepare and deliver a real session drawn from this programme to real learners, submit your session plan, materials, and assessment items in advance, and are scored on facilitation, accuracy, accessibility, question handling, and honesty rather than on the subject matter itself.

Does completing Level 6 authorise me to deliver this programme on behalf of AI Coalition Network?

No. It is an educational certificate recording that you completed this course and its teach-back. Any arrangement to deliver the programme commercially, or to describe yourself in connection with it, is a separate matter and is governed by the instructor ethics rules taught in Module 5.

What if a learner asks me a legal or tax question?

Module 2 covers exactly this. You explain what the underlying standard says at a general level, say plainly that their specific situation needs their attorney, CPA, or payroll provider, and never let a room full of owners leave believing you told them what the law requires of them.

Master AI Small Business Owner Certification · Level 6 · Certified Instructor

Certified AI Small Business Instructor

Level 6 of the Master AI Small Business Owner Certification

Teach this material to other owners: adult learning for busy people, session design, live demonstrations that survive a failure, assessment that tests judgment rather than recall, accessible delivery, honest answers to hard questions, curriculum accuracy as rules change, and instructor ethics.

Enroll in Level 6 Full curriculum Level 5 first

Level: 6 of 6
Difficulty: Expert
Estimated time: 11 hours
Modules: 5
Curriculum: Version 2026.3

About this level

Teaching AI to small business owners is a specific job with specific failure modes, and being good at the subject is not the same as being good at this.

Your learners run businesses. They arrive tired, they leave to answer the phone, and they will judge everything you say against whether it would survive a Tuesday in their own shop. They range from an owner who has automated her whole quoting process to one who has never used an assistant and is quietly worried that admitting it will look foolish. Half of them are hoping you will tell them AI is a fad; the other half are hoping you will tell them it will solve staffing. Neither is true, and how you handle that is most of the job.

This course covers what actually works with that audience. Session design that front-loads the one thing they must not forget. Demonstrations that are honest about failure, including planning for the demonstration going wrong live, which it will. Facilitation of a room where a twenty-year tradesman sits next to a twenty-four-year-old with three automations. Questions you cannot answer, questions you must not answer, and the difference between them. Assessment that tests judgment instead of vocabulary, and practical work scored against a rubric a learner can read in advance. Accessibility, which is not an add-on but the difference between a course a person can take and one they cannot. Support for learners who fall behind, which in this audience usually means learners whose businesses got busy.

Two threads run through it. Curriculum accuracy: this material rests on rules that change, agencies that withdraw and reissue guidance, and state laws being amended within a year of passing, so an instructor needs a maintenance discipline rather than a slide deck. And instructor ethics: what you may claim about the certificate, what you must never claim, how you handle your own commercial interests, and the standard that if you do not know, you say so.

The capstone is a teach-back: you prepare and deliver a real session from this programme, to real people, and are assessed on the teaching rather than on the content.

This is an independent educational course offered by AI Coalition Network. It does not replace a teaching qualification, a business licence, or professional advice, and completing it does not authorise you to represent any regulator, agency, or licensing body.

What you will be able to do

Apply adult learning principles to time-poor business owners with widely mixed prior experience, including how to open a session so nobody is embarrassed into silence.
Design a session plan that front-loads the non-negotiable material, sequences practice before theory where appropriate, and survives running twenty minutes late.
Run live demonstrations and hands-on labs honestly, including a planned response to the demonstration failing in front of the room.
Answer difficult questions accurately, distinguish questions you cannot answer from questions you must not answer, and route legal, tax, and employment questions to qualified professionals.
Design assessments that test judgment rather than recall, score practical work against a rubric learners can read in advance, and handle integrity and retakes fairly.
Deliver accessible instruction in materials, room, and remote setup, and provide accommodations in a small class without singling anyone out.
Maintain curriculum accuracy as laws, agency guidance, and tools change, and correct something you previously taught wrongly.
Apply instructor ethics: what may be claimed about the certificate, disclosure of commercial interests, and the discipline of saying you do not know.

Modules and lessons

Module 01

Adult Learning for Business Owners

Design for learners who run businesses: tired, interrupted, wildly mixed in experience, and quick to reject anything that would not survive a Tuesday in their own shop.

How Owners Actually Learn 40 min
Designing a Session Plan That Survives Contact 45 min
Demonstrations and Hands-On Labs 45 min

Module 02

Facilitation and Learner Support

Run the room, in person or remote, handle the questions you cannot answer and the ones you must not, and support learners who fall behind because their businesses got busy.

Running the Room and the Remote Room 40 min
Difficult Questions and Honest Answers 45 min
Supporting Learners Who Fall Behind 40 min

Module 03

Assessment Design for Judgment

Write questions that test whether a learner would make the right call rather than whether they memorised a phrase, score practical work against a rubric learners see in advance, and handle integrity and retakes fairly.

Writing Questions That Test Judgment 45 min
Scoring Practical Work With Rubrics 40 min
Integrity, Retakes, and Fair Decisions 40 min

Module 04

Accessible and Inclusive Instruction

Make materials, rooms, and remote delivery usable by everyone in the audience, write in plain language for readers under time pressure, and provide accommodations in a small class without singling anyone out.

Accessible Materials and Delivery 45 min
Plain Language for Time-Poor Readers 40 min
Accommodations in a Small Class 40 min

Module 05

Instructor Ethics and Curriculum Accuracy

Keep teaching material accurate as laws, guidance, and tools change, correct something you taught wrongly, and hold the ethical lines an instructor of this material must not cross.

Teaching Responsible AI Without Overclaiming 40 min
Keeping Curriculum Accurate as Rules Change 45 min
Instructor Conduct, Conflicts, and Boundaries 40 min

Assessment

Level 6 Final Examination: Certified AI Small Business Instructor

Questions: 18
Time limit: 75 minutes
Passing score: 80%
Attempts: 3

Questions are drawn at random from a reviewed bank. Every module also has a knowledge check.

Teach-back assignment

Teach-Back: Deliver a Session From This Programme

Completed session plan with the one-thing sentence, a non-exposing experience opener, a cut-if-late timing plan, a demonstration plan with a deliberate failure and three fallback layers, a multi-trade lab with a checkable definition of done, and a ninety-second ending.
Learner-facing slides and handouts plus accessibility test results — contrast check, screen reader pass, and back-row or remote-on-phone check — and the private accessibility line from the joining instructions.
Five expected questions classified by category with full answers or three-part routing sentences, a source register with versions, check dates and volatility ratings, the pre-session accuracy check result, and the verbatim spoken commercial disclosure.
At least four scenario-based assessment items with rationales and distractors drawn from real errors, plus a weighted rubric with level descriptions where practical work is assessed.
Evidence of delivery: twenty consecutive recorded minutes including the demonstration, or an attendance record with written observations from two attendees, with a note of anything that went wrong.
A two-page reflection covering whether the one thing landed, non-participation and its cause, unanswered questions and follow-up, any category three question and the exact words used, planned changes, and the moment handled worst.

Reviewed by a person against a published rubric. Passing score 80%.

Completion and certificate

Complete every published lesson in all five modules.
Pass each module knowledge check with a score of 80 percent or higher.
Pass the Level 6 final examination with a score of 80 percent or higher within the allowed attempts.
Deliver the teach-back capstone and achieve a score of 80 or higher against the published rubric.
Acknowledge the academic-integrity statement before each examination attempt.

On completion you receive the certificate Certified AI Small Business Instructor (Level 6 of 6) with a unique number, a QR code, and a public verification page.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a teaching qualification to take this course?: No. It assumes subject mastery from Levels 2 to 5 and teaches the instruction skills from the beginning. Experienced trainers will still find new material in the small-business audience specifics, the curriculum-maintenance discipline, and the instructor ethics module.
What is the teach-back?: You prepare and deliver a real session drawn from this programme to real learners, submit your session plan, materials, and assessment items in advance, and are scored on facilitation, accuracy, accessibility, question handling, and honesty rather than on the subject matter itself.
Does completing Level 6 authorise me to deliver this programme on behalf of AI Coalition Network?: No. It is an educational certificate recording that you completed this course and its teach-back. Any arrangement to deliver the programme commercially, or to describe yourself in connection with it, is a separate matter and is governed by the instructor ethics rules taught in Module 5.
What if a learner asks me a legal or tax question?: Module 2 covers exactly this. You explain what the underlying standard says at a general level, say plainly that their specific situation needs their attorney, CPA, or payroll provider, and never let a room full of owners leave believing you told them what the law requires of them.

Sources consulted

Primary sources that shaped this level. Each is labelled by what kind of authority it is; consult the original for the current text.

AI Coalition Network — Certification Educational Standard: Human Review of AI-Assisted Professional Work AI Coalition Network educational standard · accessed Sep 14, 2026
Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency — Cyber Essentials Industry guidance · accessed Sep 3, 2026
Federal Communications Commission — Declaratory Ruling, Implications of Artificial Intelligence Technologies on Protecting Consumers from Unwanted Robocalls and Robotexts, CG Docket No. 23-362, FCC 24-17 Regulation · published Feb 8, 2024 · accessed Sep 3, 2026
Federal Trade Commission — Federal Trade Commission Act, 15 U.S.C. §§ 41-58 Legal requirement · accessed Sep 3, 2026
Federal Trade Commission — FTC Announces Crackdown on Deceptive AI Claims and Schemes (Operation AI Comply) Industry guidance · published Sep 25, 2024 · accessed Sep 3, 2026
Federal Trade Commission — Federal Trade Commission Announces Final Rule Banning Fake Reviews and Testimonials (16 CFR Part 465) Regulation · published Aug 14, 2024 · accessed Sep 2, 2026
Federal Trade Commission — Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising, 16 CFR Part 255 (revised 2023) Industry guidance · published Jul 26, 2023 · accessed Sep 3, 2026
Internal Revenue Service — Publication 583, Starting a Business and Keeping Records Industry guidance · published Dec 1, 2024 · accessed Sep 3, 2026
National Institute of Standards and Technology — Artificial Intelligence Risk Management Framework: Generative Artificial Intelligence Profile, NIST AI 600-1 Standard or framework · published Jul 26, 2024 · accessed Sep 14, 2026
National Institute of Standards and Technology — Artificial Intelligence Risk Management Framework (AI RMF 1.0), NIST AI 100-1 Standard or framework · published Jan 26, 2023 · accessed Sep 3, 2026
National Institute of Standards and Technology — Small Business Cybersecurity Corner Industry guidance · accessed Sep 3, 2026
OWASP Foundation — OWASP Top 10 for LLM Applications 2025 Standard or framework · published Nov 18, 2024 · accessed Sep 14, 2026
U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division — Guidance on Web Accessibility and the ADA Industry guidance · accessed Sep 3, 2026
U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division — Field Assistance Bulletins Industry guidance · accessed Sep 3, 2026
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission — Small Business Requirements Industry guidance · accessed Sep 3, 2026
U.S. Small Business Administration — Strengthen your cybersecurity Industry guidance · accessed Sep 3, 2026
Utah State Legislature — S.B. 149 Artificial Intelligence Amendments (Utah Artificial Intelligence Policy Act) Legal requirement · published Mar 13, 2024 · accessed Sep 3, 2026
World Wide Web Consortium, Web Accessibility Initiative — WCAG 2 Overview Standard or framework · published Oct 5, 2023 · accessed Sep 3, 2026

Who it is for

Learners who have completed the master certification and want to teach this material: experienced owners running workshops for peers, trade association and chamber trainers, business advisers and coaches, community college and adult education instructors, and consultants who deliver AI training to small business clients. No prior teaching qualification is assumed, though experienced trainers will find the small-business-specific material and the curriculum-maintenance discipline new.

Prerequisites

Level 5, AI Small Business Automation Specialist, must be completed first, including its capstone, along with Levels 2 to 4. Level 6 assumes you have personally run AI-assisted workflows in a real business, because this audience detects secondhand experience immediately. An administrator may record a documented waiver for equivalent professional experience.

Program roadmap

L1 · AI Foundations for Small Business Owners Available
L2 · Certified AI Small Business Professional Available
L3 · Advanced AI Business Operations Available
L4 · Master AI Small Business Owner Certification Available
L5 · AI Small Business Automation Specialist Available
L6 · Certified AI Small Business Instructor Available

Review cycle

Curriculum version 2026.3. Last reviewed Sep 3, 2026. Next review scheduled Sep 3, 2027.

Independent professional education

MA-SBOC is an independent professional education program. It is not a business license, professional license, government certification, regulatory approval, or substitute for qualified legal, accounting, tax, financial, healthcare, engineering, safety, cybersecurity, licensing, or regulatory advice. AI-generated outputs require human verification, and business owners remain responsible for decisions made using them. Customer and employee information must be handled under applicable privacy and security requirements; marketing claims must be truthful and supportable; employment decisions require qualified human oversight; and financial and tax outputs require qualified professional review. The program is not endorsed by the U.S. Small Business Administration, Internal Revenue Service, any state business agency, chamber of commerce, professional association, accrediting organization, software vendor, regulator, or government agency. No professional education hours or approvals are claimed, and no revenue, ranking, funding, profitability, productivity, customer-growth, compliance, or return-on-investment result is guaranteed.