Sustainability: Cornell University's Distance-Learning Course Makes Global Connections
> BY BLAINE P. FRIEDLANDER JR.
Copyright © 2002 by The Earth Times. All rights reserved

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," said H. Dean Sutphin, the course's creator and associate dean of academic programs in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. "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."

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

Since the initial creation of the global seminar with the founding partners, other universities, communities college and high schools have been added to form a network of 40 educational institutions around the world.

"I think the class is a natural in this ever-increasing world economy," said Cornell alumnus Robert McInerney '00, of Scarsdale, N.Y., who took the class in 1999 and served as a teaching assistant in 2000. "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 two-way interactive classrooms and Blackboard's CourseInfo service, which creates a course web site.

Students also hold computer based video conference meetings of their problem solving groups during lab over the Web.

"It's live, interactive television -- all sites are connected, and all students can speak," said Sutphin. 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," said Sutphin.

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. In 2001, the American Distance Education Consortium gave the course the Excellence in Distance Education Award for which the university received a $5,000 prize.

The breadth of the course piques prospective employers' interest, said 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 said. "There are not many people out there experienced with distance learning and electronic-teaching methods." Not only is this an educational experience for students, but faculty are collaborating in new and creative ways through an "Institute for Global Learning" that is available to participating institutions in the Global Seminar. Annual conferences are held to learn from experts and provide time for faculty to make plans for their educational program. The annual meetings are rotated to partner institutions, most recently in Australia, Sweden, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic and the US. This provides an opportunity for faculty to take tours and actually experience case studies such as biodiversity and water quality that were written in these respective regions of the world.

The seminar provides the educational environment for learning communities around the world while the Institute for Global Learning provides faculty with the means for professional development. "This initiative is making a significant change in approaches to education. It is providing an on-going mechanism to inform the future leaders of governments and educators with a better understanding of the significant challenges to the future of our planet and approaches for sustainability," says Sutphin.