Over 1200 delegates from across the college sector registered for CDN’s Virtual College Expo event, which took place on Thursday 11 June 2020. The event was originally going to be ‘physical’, planned to take place at the impressive new Forth Valley College campus in Falkirk, but due to the Coronavirus pandemic and the ban on public events, we had to move the event online.
To reflect the current state of the world, this year’s College Expo theme was: ‘The Future Is Now: Learning From Lockdown’.
We have been overwhelmed by your fantastic feedback so, to sum up the event, we picked out some of the stand-out tweets from the day…
Good morning to everyone attending the Virtual College Expo! It’s great to see this event fully online, well done @ColDevNet ! #CollegeExpo20 pic.twitter.com/6XWNegqiqw
— WestCollegeScotland (@WestCollScot) June 11, 2020
CDN’s CEO Jim welcomed everyone to our first ever virtual conference and exhibition. He even had his College Expo t-shirt on!
HND Musical Theatre students from @NCLanarkshire kick off #CollegeExpo20 with a powerful performance which shows the impact that #COVID__19 has had on students and theatre. pic.twitter.com/ttjYZHSuk5
— CDN (@ColDevNet) June 11, 2020
The opening performance by New College Lanarkshire’s Performing Arts students was a powerful reminder of the impact lockdown and the pandemic has been having on college students.
Minister @RichardLochhead opening @ColDevNet #CollegeExpo20 today, rightly saying that colleges will be front and centre of post-Covid economic revival! pic.twitter.com/HbLQXvW2bJ
— Colleges Scotland (@CollegesScot) June 11, 2020
Honoured to virtually introduce and offer my congratulations to inspirational @Glasgow_Clyde graduate Dr Julie McElroy @JulieMcElroy who has been inducted into the College Hall of Fame at #CollegeExpo20
Read more here: https://t.co/vsMeQP26ue…
— Richard Lochhead (@RichardLochhead) June 11, 2020
Richard Lochhead, Minister for Further and Higher Education, presented Dr Julie McElroy with her CDN College Hall of Fame award (virtually!) at College Expo20. Julie is the third person to win the award, following Gary Maclean and Kirsty Robb…
Huge congratulations to Dr @JulieMcElroy alumni and Fellow of Glasgow Clyde College, on being inducted into the CDN Hall of Fame today! We are all very proud of you 👏👏 #CollegeExpo20
Read more here 👉 https://t.co/DRwp7VqpSK pic.twitter.com/G0vPmBysTZ— Glasgow Clyde College (@Glasgow_Clyde) June 11, 2020
Multi-screening behind the scenes at our @ColDelNet virtual exhibition today. #COLLEGEEXPO20 pic.twitter.com/EkIzh0u1V0
— Valerie Jackman (@ValerieJackman) June 11, 2020
Outgoing President of NUS Scotland Liam McCabe told attendees about the impact of lockdown on Scotland’s college students…
What’s @_liammccabe_ ‘s greatest success as @NUSScotland President? #CollegeExpo20
Liam is proud of…
⭐️£20m of counselling provision for colleges & universities – “That money will be needed now more than ever”, he says⭐️£21m of additional investment for student support
— CDN (@ColDevNet) June 11, 2020
Excellent presentation and discussion at the #collegeexpo20 from @_liammccabe_ about current issues affecting Scotland’s students during #COVID__19 🏴 @NUSScotland
— Kathryn Pierce 🏳️🌈 (@LGBTfierce) June 11, 2020
There were plenty of insightful seminar sessions to choose from, including:
Fascinating seminar with Michael Bready from @youthmindful
“The key principle of #mindfulness practice is that if we transform our mind, we can transform our experience of life”. #CollegeExpo20 #mentalhealth pic.twitter.com/n9lualohss
— CDN (@ColDevNet) June 11, 2020
Michael Bready explained the benefits of mindfulness and how it can improve mental health.
Great session #CollegeExpo20 from @nicvik and Mhairi H on ‘The Role of Adult Learning in Civic Recovery’ – great to take stock of where we are so far with the strategy and consider this moving forward #AdultLearningMatters @edscotcld @ColDevNet pic.twitter.com/cOxGYi5RRS
— Susan Epsworth (@soozeeps) June 11, 2020
Mhairi Harrington OBE and Nicki McAndrew explained how learning from Covid-19 is strengthening Scotland’s Adult Learning strategy.
Our @principal_fvc #CollegeExpo20 takes us through our Digital Future 👏 pic.twitter.com/4k2l8XsDTt
— Jasmin Hodge (@jmdh22) June 11, 2020
Forth Valley College Principal Ken Thomson OBE spoke about the Digital Ambition strategy, which will help to shape the future learning environment in Scotland’s colleges.
@MirCWalsh talks about opening new doors for back to education learners in her #CollegeExpo20 seminar👌 pic.twitter.com/dnuK7HA6cE
— CDN (@ColDevNet) June 11, 2020
Further Education teacher Miriam Walsh spoke about her experience of teaching digital media and coding to early school leavers and adults returning to education.
What do we want and what do we need from our colleges? @ACumberford1 @edinburghcoll shares the latest thinking from the Independent Commission on the College of the Future @CollegeComm #CollegeExpo20 #FurtherEducation pic.twitter.com/6Jp9GZmF4Q
— CDN (@ColDevNet) June 11, 2020
Audrey Cumberford, Principal & CEO of Edinburgh College attracted hundreds of people to her keynote session.
Fiona Robertson from @sqanews says thank you to the college sector – “We have worked together really well to develop solutions for learners.” #CollegeExpo20 #COVID19 #FurtherEducation
— CDN (@ColDevNet) June 11, 2020
Chief Executive of SQA Fiona Robertson emphasised the importance of collaboration and partnership relationships.
The role of colleges is developing in the context of an aging population, Brexit, the climate emergency, advances in digital technologies, and a focus on economic growth. The pandemic has acclerated the need for changes, explains @ACumberford1 #CollegeExpo20
— Megan Brown (@sparqs_Megan) June 11, 2020
To close this year’s Virtual event we are delighted to welcome our final keynote speaker Mike Cantlay OBE, Chair of @ScotFundCouncil #CollegeExpo20 pic.twitter.com/xlNHfEIGFD
— CDN (@ColDevNet) June 11, 2020
College Expo20 closing remarks came from Mike Cantlay OBE.
THANK YOU all for your kind comments…
Thanks to organisers and all presenters at @ColDevNet it was an excellent event #CollegeExpo20 👏 Looking forward to the next one. pic.twitter.com/GakenvVhDZ
— Fiona Dixon 🦉 (@DrFionaDixon) June 12, 2020
Full Body workout was excellent. Great coach #CollegeExpo20
— christmas carol🎄 (@christmasC25) June 11, 2020
Great event, well done to everyone @ColDevNet who put that together so quickly!
— EAUC Scotland (@EAUCScotland) June 12, 2020
Difficult to choose which sessions to attend today, they all look so interesting! 🤔 #CollegeExpo20
— Joy McLean (@JoyDMcLean) June 11, 2020
We are delighted to announce that the College Expo 20 platform is now open and available to access, so if you missed the event or if you missed any of the speakers/ sessions, you can revisit the event!
Explore the platform and revisit the event by clicking the button below.