Sana Abdul Salam Saudi Gazette JEDDAH — Effat University plans to hold the tenth Learning and Technology (L&T) conference on Feb. 25-26. This year's conference has been titled: “Cloudscaping the Global Learning Environment.” The conference will explore the practical implications of the application of technology to learning. While the title refers to cloud storage, the online storage of (sometimes mass) data, the conference is not particularly limited to this concept. “We do not want to be too specific to say it is about cloud storage alone,” said Nighat Mir, Program Chair for L&T and Institutional Research at Effat University. “It's mainly about virtualization of information, and how this can impact education,” said Mir. According to Haifa Jamal Al-Lail, President of Effat University, within the next few years the ready availability of technology will “allow learners to access location and person specific information from sources all over the world in multimedia format. The Global Learning Environment that is thus created will change learning: Learners will have more choice, diversity will increase and standardization of education will decrease.” So, “questions concerning the distributed authority, the role of formal educational institutions and overcoming resistance toward digital pedagogy need to be addressed,” said Al-Lail. The conference will examine the connections between research, industry and practice in the area of the application of technology to learning. This will draw from diverse disciplines like computer science, education, psychology, cognitive science and social science. “What will be interesting for me to see is the blend of different fields of study, and how they come together to explore the connection between technology and learning,” said Mir. More than 50 papers have been submitted for the conference, from researchers hailing from different nations such as Australia, Pakistan, Canada, Japan, the US, Egypt, Lebanon, Algeria, Malaysia and the UAE. The papers are reviewed through a non-blind review process. Accepted papers will be published in the conference proceedings. The technical sponsor for the event is the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) organization.