From left: Moderator of the panel discussion and Development Counsellor for the UK department for International Development (DFID), Mehtab Currey; Tony Swainston, ECM Connections; Francisco Marmolejo, World Bank Group; Nawell Mosalli, Principal of Advanced General Schools; Grete Pasch, Former vice dean of Effat University's Library; and Sarah Al-Harthy, Student Government President at Effat University. — SG photo Sana Abdul Salam Sana Abdul Salam Saudi Gazette JEDDAH — Effat University hosted the 10th annual Learning and Technology (L&T) Conference on Monday and Tuesday. Titled “Cloudscaping the Global Learning Environment,” the conference was held under the patronage of Princess Lolowa Al-Faisal, who also serves the vice chairperson for the university's board of trustees. The conference brought in a diverse group of speakers from around the world, including Francisco Marmelejo, the World Bank's Lean Tertiary education specialist, Tony Swainston, CEO of Every Child Matters (ECM) Connections, and Cindy Gunn, Associate Professor at the University of Sharjah. Speakers from within the Kingdom included Ayman Fayoumi from King Abdul Aziz University, Abdel Razak El-Sagheer from Al-Baha University, and Yasser AlShehri from Yanbu University College. The principle keynote speaker for the conference was Mohammed Bin Ibrahim Al-Suwaiyel, president of the King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology. In her welcome address, Houria Oudghiri, provost of Effat University, said: “Technology is developing much faster than corresponding teaching and learning strategies. Hence, one of the main aims of this conference is to serve as an eye-opener on how technology can be incorporated to really enhance learning.” Ideas discussed in the conference included development of new mobile applications that can facilitate learning, and recent developments in distance and online learning. Elaborating on innovations in distance learning, Mohammed Abdul Mottaleb, an associate professor at the University of Miami, discussed developments in facial recognition software that can confirm the identity of a person giving a test in another part of the world. Mottaleb also talked about human activity recognition software, which would help determine whether or not the participants of a remote class were interested and paying attention to the material. Francisco Marmolejo, the keynote speaker for the conference's first session, said: “It's great to be given the opportunity to be at this conference; to listen to the different perspectives on the same subject, and how this specifically fits into the context of Saudi Arabia.” He added:”I had read about facts and figures of Saudi Arabia and the use of technology by students, but to actually see the specific dynamics of these presented by Sabria Jawhar was quite interesting.” The structure of the conference was two-fold, with speakers discussing their ideas in talks to the audience, and through panel discussions on stage. Questions from the audience were also entertained after the panel discussions. During an evening session held at Park Hyatt hotel, certificates of participation were presented to the speakers of the conference. The best conference paper award was given to Barbara (Zainab) D'Elia and Heather Fredrick from Northcentral University, US, for their paper “Essential Learning Skills: Enabling Success for Today's Diverse Online Students.” Parallel workshop sessions were also held during the second session of the conference by Effat University's faculty and staff, as well as the guest speakers of the conference. The workshops dealt with innovations in teaching and learning, recognition and avoidance of plagiarism and online education and assessment. Sadiqa Aziz, an instructor at Effat University's English academy, said: “As a teacher, I found the conference to be useful in understanding how technological innovations can help in teaching. Such conferences help us realize that we need to we need to go more toward informal methods of teaching, as this would make students more independent learners.” Amal Alshorani, a teaching assistant at Umm Al-Qura University attending the conference, said: “I thought the L&T conference was interesting, but felt that some talks from the first session were a bit irrelevant to the ideas of technology and learning. Since I had specifically attended the conference for this, I think making this session more specific would have helped.” The Learning and Technology conference had been initiated and first held in 2002, and this year the university celebrated its tenth occurrence.
