METAA CTO Certificate Online Course
About
In response to the technological challenges faced by schools, METAA is offering a rigorous 14-week online course designed to build competencies in the ten essential skills required for educational technology directors. This course is suitable for both prospective and current technology directors and is designed to cover three primary categories: Leadership & Vision, Understanding the Educational Environment, and Managing Technology & Support Resources. Students will earn 3 Fitchburg State University (FSU) credits upon successful completion of this course.
METAA is now adding a new undergraduate course to run concurrently with the existing graduate course.
Prerequisite Education Requirements:
- Undergraduate students must have earned a high school diploma/GED, associates degree, and/or technology related certifications.
- Graduate students have earned a bachelor’s degree or above.
Both courses consist of readings, activities, online discussion posts, reflections, on-line sessions, a final essay, and a project portfolio. Students should expect to work about 5 asynchronous hours per week, depending on their expertise in the ten skill areas the course covers.
Both the undergraduate and graduate sections learn from the same content but each has a specific set of rubrics. Refer to the graduate or undergraduate course syllabus for further details.
The course offers the advantage of working in an online cohort format, which allows students to share learning, experience, and expertise in each of the skill areas.
Two Zoom informational sessions are offered. One at the beginning of the course to discuss the course outline, the weekly posting schedule, and student expectations. A second Zoom session is offered toward the end of the course to review the requirements of the final project and the digital portfolio. An additional Zoom session, as part of one of the modules, will be offered with a guest presenter who will dive more deeply into a specific area of technology leaders are challenged with today.
Upon successful completion of this course, participants will receive a course grade. Student work will also be evaluated to receive the METAA CTO Certificate through the METAA CTO Course Committee’s review of student LiveBinder portfolio, reflections, and final essay. This certificate provides employers verification that they will be hiring, or have hired, a technology leader who possesses the vast knowledge and skills necessary to be an effective educational technology leader in the K-12 environment. This certificate is different from other certification programs, like the CoSN CETL certification which requires four years’ experience as a technology director. Also note that the current Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary (DESE) Education Director Certification – Generalist requires a master’s degree.
Course Information
Next Current Course Duration: July 13, 2026 – October 18, 2026
The course consists of 12 weeks of instruction related to the skill areas and two additional weeks allotted for the final project.
Course Cost: $2000 (non-refundable)
Location: Online (Students will submit work online weekly – expect about 5 hours of work per week. Students will collaborate asynchronously within the weekly schedule.)
To receive the Course Registration Form and more course details, please complete the requested information at the following link by June 21, 2026.
Click here to complete the Course Information Request Form.
The Course Registration Process with information needed to register for both the undergraduate and graduate courses will be sent out to those who have completed the requested information at the link above. Upon completion of the request form, FSU registration process and METAA payment process will be provided.
The Course Registration Process must be completed by July 1, 2026.
- The payment process will be initiated by METAA when the registration process reaches the required number of students to provide an enriching experience.
- Course registration provides access to: FSU course site, CoSN course reference materials for one year, and LiveBinder Portfolio.
Email any questions to course instructors:
Loretta Cannistraci, Ed.D., CETL: lcannistraci@techdirectors.org
and/or
Jeff Liberman, MA: jliberman@techdirectors.org