This investigation was conducted to incorporate video-conferencing technology to permit international professional practitioner involvement into geotechnical engineering courses. The study was conducted as a collaboration between California Polytechnic State University (U.S.A.) and Nippon Koei Co., Ltd. (Japan). The initiative was originally established for the undergraduate Geotechnical Engineering Laboratory course and was expanded to include graduate level geotechnical engineering courses. Video conferencing was conducted between Nippon Koei offices and the classroom. The conferencing activities included a tour of laboratory facilities at the company and discussion of specific current geotechnical engineering projects. A laboratory and/or class assignment was developed for which Nippon Koei served as an external client. Students were required to submit their work to both the professor and the practitioner for review. Cross-cultural discussions at a professional level provided appreciation for standardized testing methods; the importance of research in civil engineering practice; inclusion of large-scale current case studies into classroom discussions; and differences in approaching design problems in different countries. The new teaching methodologies described in this paper (global video-conferencing with an international practitioner and practitioner review of assignments) are well suited for developing students' broad communication skills and providing global context for engineering problems. In addition, the methods have served well to expand technical content of courses related to analysis methodologies and instrumentation. Student evaluations indicated a high level of enjoyment and enhanced learning. Experiences, challenges, and opportunities associated with these teaching methodologies are described in the paper. Guidance is provided for successful implementation of such initiatives.