An international colloquium on distance education and e-learning will be held at the University of Lagos, Nigeria on September 16, 2021.
Sponsored by MTN Nigeria and organised by the Distance Learning Institute, UNILAG, the colloquium is expected to have speakers drawn from Canada, United Kingdom, South Africa and Nigeria.
Dr Ernest Ndukwe, Chairman, MTN Nigeria, will join a host of well-seasoned individuals to speak on the theme: Recalibrating Open Distance Education and E-Learning for Resilient and Inclusive Education
Among the speakers at the colloquium is Dr Neil Fassina, President, International Council of Distance Education (ICDE) who will be acting as the keynote speaker.
Joining him as discussants are, Emeritus Professor Olu Jegede, Prof. Moeketsi Letseka, and Dr. Akanimo Odon.
Neil Fassina is the current President of Athabasca University. Before taking on this role, he was Provost and Vice-President Academic at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology.
Fassina holds a PhD from the University of Toronto in Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management.
Olugbemiro Jegede is the first Vice-Chancellor of the National Open University of Nigeria.
He has also served as the Secretary to the Kogi State Government as well as the Secretary-General and Chief Executive of the Association of African Universities, a position that he assumed on December 1, 2010, after a successful tenure in Nigeria on a special assignment in Higher Education.
Moeketsi Letseka is a professor of philosophy of education, and the holder of the endowed UNESCO Chair on Open Distance Learning at Unisa.
He is a professor of philosophy of education and Editor-in-Chief of Africa Education Review, a scholarly journal that is jointly published by Unisa Press and Taylor & Francis in the United Kingdom (UK).
Prof Letseka has published extensively in the areas of philosophy of education, higher education and open distance learning.
Akanimo Odon is an international business and strategy development expert from Nigeria.
He specializes in education and training, energy and environment, oil and gas, media, charities and government.
He is currently the Africa Strategy Adviser, Lancaster University, United Kingdom.
These speakers are expected to bring their wealth of experience to the fore as they speak on repositioning open distance education and e-learning for resilience and inclusiveness.
The Colloquium will be held in a hybrid mode to allow participants that are unable to physically attend, join virtually.
MTN’s sponsorship of the colloquium ties with its vision of leading the delivery of a bold new digital world. In June 2020, MTN Nigeria commenced a free data offer enabling primary and secondary school students to access educational content.
The intervention was done in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Education, allowing primary and secondary school students access to virtual lessons and exam prep.
