Speeches & Presentations 2020

Reading Time: 17 min read

The Challenge of Learning: The Future of Education – Nobel Week Dialogue 2020: Professor Asha Kanwar, COL President and CEO spoke about the benefits of distance education on 9 December 2020.

21st Century Skills for Sustainable Development: Presented by Dr Tony Mays, Education Specialist: Open Schooling at the Distance Education Association of Southern Africa (DEASA) 2020 Virtual Conference on 4 December 2020.

Gender and Access to TVET: Challenges and Progress: Video presentation delivered by Terry Neal, COL Education Specialist: Technical and Vocational Skills Development (TVSD) at the Women in Technical Education and Employment International Hybrid Conference on ‘Gender and sustainable development goals in Africa’, 3 December 2020.

“Brave New World” That Has Such Education Futures: Virtually presented by Professor Asha Kanwar, COL President & CEO at Educa Berlin (OEB) 2020 on 1 December 2020.

Building Resilient Education Systems: Video presentation delivered at the ICDE Presidents’ Forum, 25 November 2020.

COVID19 – From Response to Resilience: Virtually presented at the Education Ministers Action Group, Commonwealth Secretariat, London, UK on 24 November 2020.

Open Education for Sustainable Development: Presented by Professor Asha Kanwar, COL President & CEO at the Open Education Global Conference (OEGlobal 2020) on 18 November 2020.

COL in the Commonwealth: Presented by Professor Asha Kanwar, COL President & CEO at the virtual 37th Commonwealth Diplomats Induction Programme on 3 November 2020.

Introducing COL: Video presentation by Professor Asha Kanwar, COL President & CEO delivered at the virtual 37th Commonwealth Diplomats Induction Programme on 3 November 2020.

Promoting Digital Education in the Commonwealth: Invited presentation by Dr. Sanjaya Mishra, Education Specialist: eLearning at the European Online and Distance Learning Week organised by the European Distance and E-Learning Network on 2 November 2020.

Technologies for Literacy: Presentation by Professor Asha Kanwar, COL President and CEO at the General Meeting, Global Alliance for Literacy, UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning, 29 October 2020.

Congratulatory message for the 60th Anniversary of Shanghai Open University (SOU): Video message delivered by Professor Asha Kanwar, President & CEO, Commonwealth of Learning on 21 October 2020.

Women in Industry: Presentation by Professor Asha Kanwar, COL President and CEO at the First Virtual Women in Vocational Education Conference, RMIT, Australia, 2 October 2020.

Challenges for eLearning during COVID-19: Video presentation by Professor Asha Kanwar, President & CEO, Commonwealth of Learning at the 3rd International Conference on Distance and eLearning (ICDEEL-2020), International Islamic University Islamabad, Pakistan, 30 September 2020

COL-Coursera Virtual Convocation for Caribbean Graduates of the Workforce Recovery Initiative: Convocation address delivered by Professor Asha Kanwar, President and CEO, Commonwealth of Learning at the COL-Coursera Virtual Convocation Caribbean on 22 September 2020.

MOOCs, e-Content Development and OER: Keynote address delivered by Dr Sanjaya Mishra at the National Webinar on “MOOCs, e Content Development and Open Educational Resources” at Sambalpur University, India on 7 September 2020.

Universitas Terbuka 36th Anniversary: Congratulatory message delivered by Professor Asha Kanwar for the 36th Anniversary of Universitas Terbuka, Indonesia, 4 September 2020.

Build Back Better: digital learning and skills: Presentation delivered by Professor Asha Kanwar, COL President & CEO, Commonwealth of Learning at the Virtual Meeting of Commonwealth Ministers for Women’s Affairs and Gender and Development on COVID-19, 3 September 2020.

Implementing Smart Education for Development: Fixing priorities: Video message delivered by Professor Asha Kanwar, COL President & CEO, Commonwealth of Learning for the 2020 Global Smart Education (GSE) Conference on 20 August 2020.

Launch of the COL-Coursera Workforce Recovery Initiative in Barbados: Speech delivered by Professor Asha Kanwar, COL President and CEO, at the online ceremony hosted by the Ministry of Labour and Social Partnership Relations, Barbados on 19 August 2020.

COL-Coursera Virtual Convocation for African Graduates of the Workforce Recovery Initiative: Address delivered by Professor Asha Kanwar, COL President & CEO on 18 August 2020.

Digital Transformation of Learning due to COVID-19: Keynote address delivered by Dr Naveed Malik, COL Special Adviser: Technology & Innovation, at the International Conference on Digitalization and Cyber Security: Challenges, Opportunities and Way Forward on 10 August 2020.

Education: the new normal The Commonwealth Youth Quorum, 13 July 2020. A video message by Professor Asha Kanwar, President & CEO, Commonwealth of Learning.

Farewell Speech for Dr Linda Sissons, CNZM given by Professor Asha Kanwar, President & CEO, Commonwealth of Learning, on 29 June 2020.

Designing a response to COVID-19 campus closures: praxis Presentation by Dr Tony Mays, Education Specialist: Open Schooling at the 11th e-Learning webinar for lecturers of Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University of Science and Technology, 5 June 2020.

From Response to Resilience: Future of Open Learning. Presentation by Professor Asha Kanwar, COL President and CEO, at the webinar “Innovative Practices and Future Trends in Online and Open Education.” Organised by Shanghai Open University, China, in partnership with UNESCO-IITE. 18 June 2020.

Towards Resilient Skills Development Systems: Challenges & Opportunities. Presentation by Professor Asha Kanwar, COL President and CEO at the World Bank Webinar on Skills Development during a Pandemic: Challenges and Opportunities. 16 June 2020.

Open & Distance Learning: Creation of Infrastructure and Supportive Tools: Presentation by Professor Asha Kanwar, COL President and CEO, at the webinar “Closing the Digital Divide in Education in Unequal Societies,” hosted by the Department of Basic Education, South Africa, 9 June 2020.

Asia Focal Points Meeting: Presentation by Professor Asha Kanwar, COL President and CEO, at the online Focal Points meeting for Asia, June 1, 2020.

Pacific Focal Points Meeting: Presentation by Professor Asha Kanwar, COL President and CEO, at the online Focal Points Meeting for the Pacific, May 26, 2020.

COVID-19: COL Response Presentation by Professor Asha Kanwar, COL President and CEO, at the Commonwealth Secretariat Annual Board of Governors meeting, 19 May 2020.

Online Education in the COVID-19 Environment Presentation by Professor Asha Kanwar, COL President and CEO at the University of the West Indies Open Campus forum. 18 May 2020

Digital Education: the art of the possible Presentation by Professor Asha Kanwar, COL President and CEO, at the e-Symposium “Digital Education: the Art of the Possible, Now!” hosted by Sir Arthur Lewis Community College, St Lucia, on 6 May 2020.

Taking the Road Less Travelled: Presentation by Professor Asha Kanwar, COL President and CEO, at the online TEDx KrasnayaPolyanaSalon. April 30, 2020.

Africa Focal Points Meeting: Presentation by Professor Asha Kanwar, COL President and CEO, at the online Focal Points Meeting for Africa and Europe, April 28-29, 2020

Towards Resilient Education Systems: Lessons from COVID-19 Presentation by Professor Asha Kanwar, COL President and CEO, for the online roundtable “Building More Resilient Education Systems: Innovative Experience and Lessons Learned during the COVID-19 Pandemic” organised by the UNESCO Institute for Information Technologies in Education, under the auspices of the Moscow International Educational Fair, 27 April 2020.

Will COVID 19 Change the Way We Teach-Learn? A presentation from Professor Asha Kanwar, President and CEO, Commonwealth of Learning, for the online conference Teaching-Learning in the Time of Pandemic: Role of Online Learning on 21 April 2020, co-hosted by CEMCA and KKHOU, Guwahati India.

ODL in the Fourth Industrial Age: Opportunities for Africa: A presentation from Professor Asha Kanwar, President & CEO, Commonwealth of Learning, for the 1st RETRIDOL Annual Colloquium, National Open University of Nigeria, 24 March 2020. Prepared together with Dr Sanjaya Mishra. (Event cancelled due to COVID19).

From Data to Difference!: A presentation from Professor Asha Kanwar, President & CEO, Commonwealth of Learning, for the 13 March 2020 Side Event at CSW64/Beijing + 25 (2020) at the Joint Office for Commonwealth Permanent Missions to the United Nations. Prepared together with Ms Alexis Carr (Event cancelled due to COVID19).

President’s Message for Commonwealth Day 2020: A message from Professor Asha Kanwar, President & CEO, Commonwealth of Learning, on Commonwealth Day, 10 March 2020.

President’s Message for International Women’s Day 2020: A message from Professor Asha Kanwar, President & CEO, Commonwealth of Learning, on International Women’s Day, 8 March 2020.

Quality Assurance Workshop – Blended Learning: Presented by Professor Naveed Malik, Special Adviser: Technology & Innovation at the Institute of Distance Education (IDE), University of Eswatini, 5 March 2020, Eswatini.

Virtual University of Pakistan (VUP): Presented by Professor Naveed Malik, Special Adviser: Technology & Innovation (Founder/former Rector, VUP), University of Eswatini, 4 March 2020, Eswatini.

Virtual University of Transformation – Developing an Implementation Plan: Presented by Professor Naveed Malik, Special Adviser: Technology & Innovation at the Ministry of Education, 2 March 2020, Eswatini.

Virtual University for Small States of the Commonwealth: Presented by Professor Naveed Malik, Special Adviser: Technology & Innovation at the at the Ministry of Education, 2 March 2020, Eswatini.

COL in the Commonwealth: Presented by Professor Naveed Malik, Special Adviser: Technology & Innovation at the Ministry of Education, 2 March 2020, Eswatini.

Opening Speech: OER Workshop. Castries, Saint Lucia: Opening speech by Professor Asha Kanwar at the OER Workshop, 29 January 2020, Saint Lucia.

Open Educational Resources for Sustainable Development: Presentation by Professor Asha Kanwar at the OER Workshop in Castries, 29 January 2020, Saint Lucia.

Future of Education: Advances and Trends in AI, Blockchain And 5G: Presented by Dr Venkataraman Balaji at the COL Focal Points Meeting – Caribbean region, 28 January 2020, Saint Lucia.

Future of Education: Presented by Professor Asha Kanwar at the COL Focal Points Meeting, 28 January 2020, Saint Lucia.

Caribbean Focal Points Meeting: Saint Lucia: Presented by Professor Asha Kanwar at the COL Focal Points Meeting – Caribbean region, 27 January 2020, Saint Lucia.

Opening Remarks: Caribbean Focal Points Meeting: Opening remarks: Delivered by Professor Asha Kanwar at the COL Focal Points Meeting – Caribbean region, 27 January 2020, Saint Lucia.

Responding to the Nadi Declaration – Education for Resilience: Video presentation delivered by Professor Asha Kanwar at the Education Ministers Action Group (EMAG), 23 January 2020, London, UK.

Subscribe To Our Newsletter

Sign Up Now