The Android Certified Associate Developer (ACAD) certification is a hands-on guide to designing and building mobile applications using Google's Android open-source platform. The course explains what Android is, the Android SDK, all essential features, as well as the advanced capabilities and APIs such as background services and notifications. It also encourages participants to learn by building a real-life working application, which can serve as a basis for future Android projects. By the end of the course, each participant will have a complete functional Android application incorporating most of the key features of the platform.