Students at Durham College received an international education — without having to leave their classroom.

On April 5, a global classroom was created by connecting the students to a college classroom in India.

The college linked with the other class for a session of an elective course called Short History of the World, creating a twin class between students at both colleges.

“We were looking for a class to team up with and we thought that India would be a pretty good place because it’s rapidly growing and very much part of the global society right now,” Lon Appleby, a professor in the School of Communication, Language and General Studies at Durham College, said.

According to a press release, 55 students enrolled in the course, in addition to 22 students from the College’s film culture studies course, were joined by 16 students from the Mahindra Unite World College in Maharashtra, India.

“The more opportunities we can give young people to connect with others in other cultures, the more we will be able to address the challenges of globalization,” Appleby noted.

The global classroom will become a permanent fixture on Appleby’s website, which is to be launched in early May. As mentioned in the press release, the website will host, record and post additional global classes to attract other colleges and universities to twin-class formats.

—Shreya Tekriwal