It is the class heard 'round the world: a Cornell University distance-learning course in which undergraduate and graduate students from the Americas, Europe, Australia and India are linked electronically.

On Jan. 25, students will come together for Global Seminar ALS 480, a spring semester course that examines international food issues and formulates positions on worldwide agricultural sustainability.

The global classroom communicates using Internet-, telephone- and satellite-based video. Cornell organizes the class with equal participation from eight other universities, including Wageningen University and Research Center, the Netherlands; the Open University of the Netherlands; Universidad EARTH, Costa Rica; University Zamorano, Honduras; Uppsala University, Sweden; the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences; the University of Melbourne, Australia; and Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University, India.

"I think the class is a natural in this ever-increasing world economy," says Cornell alumnus Robert McInerney '00, of Scarsdale, N.Y., who took the class in 1999 and served as a teaching assistant last spring. "You learn cultural sensitivity, and you become exposed to people with different beliefs, attitudes and values. All of that can lead to more self-awareness when you see how the rest of the world perceives us and how our perceptions of them are shaped."

Students participate in five case studies during the semester, dividing into international problem-solving groups. During each project, the Cornell students congregate with students from other countries by way of Pic-Tel videoconferencing and web streaming for one-way live broadcasts, as well as CU-See-Me for two-way interactive classrooms and Blackboard's CourseInfo service, which creates a course web site.

"It's live, interactive television -- all sites are connected and all students can speak," says H. Dean Sutphin, associate dean of academic programs in Cornell's New York State College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, who created the course. The monitor is split four ways, and each site is rotated into the picture at its allotted time for participation. Through the decision/case-study process, students continue their discussion by way of computer-based connections. Case-study summations are derived from the international discussion.

"Ultimately, we want the students to have a global perspective on key policy issues and obtain the necessary problem-solving skills to address those issues," says Sutphin. "The world is getting smaller and smaller, and we want the students to recognize that the environment, food and nutrition all operate in a global system. This course is connecting them with a network of students who will be leaders in business, government and industry around the world. They will be engaged with these people for a long time."

Taking the class requires organization and a lot of flexibility. Sometimes the Cornell students' international discussions begin at 2 a.m. in order to accommodate the Australian students, and sometimes the Australians start their discussions in the wee hours to benefit the Americans and Europeans. "It takes longer to complete tasks because of time lags when people check their e-mail. Also, due dates have to be specified as to whether the assignment is due on Thursday in Australia or Thursday elsewhere," says McInerney.

The pilot program for the class was in 1996 and has been taught ever since by Sutphin. He and the other instructors, David R. Lee, Cornell professor of applied economics and management, and Phil A. Arneson, Cornell associate professor of plant pathology, incorporate lessons from chemical ecology, environmental horticulture, environmental issues and policy, plant chemosystematics, zoopharmocognosy, plant pathology and other specialties.

The breadth of the course piques prospective employers' interest, says McInerney. Now a consultant for PricewaterhouseCoopers, the multinational financial services firm, where he helps develop corporate training tools for global clients, McInerney believes the class gave him the ability to work with people from different cultures, a skill that is absolutely necessary at a global firm.

"It was a really great fit," he says. "There are not many people out there experienced with distance learning and electronic-teaching methods."