RECOGNIZING AND AVOIDING

INTERCULTURAL MISCOMMUNICATION IN
DISTANCE EDUCATION
A Study of the Experiences of Canadian Faculty and Aboriginal
Nursing Students
CYNTHIA K. RUSSELL, PHD, RN,* DAVID M. GREGORY, PHD, RN,y
W. DEAN CARE, EDD, RN,z AND DAVID HULTIN, MA
Language differences and diverse cultural norms influence the transmission and receipt of
information. The online environment provides yet another potential source of miscommunication. Although distance learning has the potential to reach students in cultural groups that
have been disenfranchised from traditional higher education settings in the past, intercultural
miscommunication is also much more likely to occur through it. There is limited research
examining intercultural miscommunication within distance education environments. This article
presents the results of a qualitative study that explored the communication experiences of
Canadian faculty and Aboriginal students while participating in an online baccalaureate nursing
degree program that used various delivery modalities. The microlevel data analysis revealed
participants beliefs and interactions that fostered intercultural miscommunication as well as
their recommendations for ensuring respectful and ethically supportive discourses in online
courses. The unique and collective influences of intercultural miscommunication on the
experiences of faculty and students within the courses are also identified. Instances of
ethnocentrism and othering are illustrated, noting the effects that occurred from holding
dualistic perspectives of us and them. Lastly, strategies for preventing intercultural miscommunication in online courses are described. (Index words: Distance learning; Aboriginal;
Baccalaureate education; Intercultural miscommunication; Social constructivism) J Prof Nurs
23:351 61, 2007. A 2007 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

HE ABORIGINAL PEOPLE of Canada are attending

postsecondary institutions in increasing numbers
(Government of Canada, 1997). However, their level of
educational attainment still falls well below that of other
Canadians. The postsecondary enrollment rate among
the general population aged between 17 and 34 years is

4Professor, College of Nursing, The University of Tennessee Health

Science Center, Memphis, TN.
yProfessor, School of Health Sciences, University of Lethbridge,
Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada.
zProfessor, Faculty of Nursing, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg,
Manitoba, Canada.
Project Coordinator, Research and Evaluation Unit, Research and
Applied Learning, Winnipeg Regional Health Authority, Winnipeg,
Manitoba, Canada.
Address correspondence to Dr. Russell: Acute and Chronic Care
Department, College of Nursing, The University of Tennessee Health
Science Center, Room No. 629, 877 Madison Ave., Memphis, TN
38163. E-mail: crussell@utmem.edu
8755-7223/$ - see front matter

approximately 10%, as compared with that among

Aboriginal people, who participate at a 6% level.
According to Voyageur (2001, p. 103), bthis causes grave
concern to First Nations leaders who wish their people to
be more integrated into the mainstream economy.
Education is seen as a means of achieving this goal.Q
According to a recent national task force report,
bAboriginal nursing students face formidable challenges
in completing post-secondary programsQ (Health Canada, 2002, p. 5). The seriousness of this situation is
exacerbated by an increasing need for Aboriginal nurses
in the workplace. Furthermore, it is well known that
Aboriginal people are underrepresented in science,
technology, and health-related programs and professions (MacIvor, 1995). There has been a recent
movement to increase the numbers of Aboriginal
students in the health professions. The overall goals
have been to increase the representation of Aboriginal
students in professional programs such as nursing and

Journal of Professional Nursing, Vol 23, No 6 (NovemberDecember), 2007: pp 351361

A 2007 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

351
doi:10.1016/j.profnurs.2007.01.021

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RUSSELL ET AL

to improve their chances of succeeding. Given the

increasing use of distance education technologies in
nursing programs, it is imperative to understand
students perspectives of and experiences with technology-enhanced teaching and learning.
The University of Manitoba Faculty of Nursing
provides province-wide baccalaureate nursing education; it has program sites in Winnipeg and Norway House
(Figure 1). In partnership with the Red River College in

Winnipeg and the University College of the North, the

Faculty of Nursing offers joint baccalaureate nursing
programs in The Pas and Thompson. Aboriginal nursing
students account for 100% of the students enrolled in the
Norway House program and approximately 50% of those
enrolled in joint baccalaureate nursing programs in The
Pas and Thompson. The joint baccalaureate nursing
program at the Red River College also has a significant
number of Aboriginal nursing students, many of whom

Figure 1. Province of Manitoba with distance education sites.

INTERCULTURAL MISCOMMUNICATION IN DISTANCE EDUCATION

eventually attend the main campus of the University of

Manitoba for their fourth year of study. The educational
programs use a variety of distance learning technologies
to deliver content to the remote sites.
The purpose of this qualitative study was to describe
Canadian Aboriginal undergraduate nursing students
experiences with distance education. Within their
interviews, students and faculty repeatedly identified
problematic communicative episodes that reflected a
phenomenon of intercultural miscommunication. The
study participants provided recommendations for
strategies that could prevent this miscommunication.
In this article, (a) the perspectives of faculty and
Aboriginal students about the discourse and situations
that occur within the online environment of a
baccalaureate program are described, (b) areas of
misunderstanding within courses are illustrated, and
(c) mechanisms that can be instituted within online
courses to prevent intercultural miscommunication
are identified.

Review of the Literature

The social constructivist approach to learning that was
introduced by Vygotsky (1978) focuses on the importance of culture and context in the formation of
knowledge. In this paradigm, learning is a dynamic
process mediated by language via social discourse. The
challenge of this theory is that neither culture nor
context provides a static environment for development.
Culture, cultural memberships, and cultural differences
are constructed and perpetuated by individuals while
they interact. Learning, like culture, must be dynamically negotiated in such an environment. In relation to
distance education, learning is an emerging attribute of
an individuals participation in an online community in
which social and individual processes work together to
facilitate the co-construction of knowledge.
Various authors have described the problematic nature
of cross-cultural learning situations, although not all of
their descriptions refer to online environments (Haulmark, 2002; Kataoka-Yahiro & Abriam-Yago, 1997;
Tylee, n.d.; Weitzel & Davidson-Shivers, 2004). In
Haulmarks study on eight Thai students experiences in
an online qualitative research methods course, issues for
students included adjusting to the technology, being
comfortable with delayed responses to questions, working with non-Thai students, and dealing with uncertainty.
Specifically in relation to nursing education, research
into the experiences of Asian students in cross-cultural
educational encounters revealed that they have difficulty with understanding informal speech, colloquialisms,
and metaphors (Weitzel & Davidson-Shivers, 2004).
These students are also asked to interact in ways that are
often different from their experiences, such as active
versus passive learning, group activities with strangers,
and open sharing of thoughts and beliefs. KataokaYahiro and Abriam-Yago (1997) described the tendency
of Asian students to perceive educators as authority
figures and to assume the role of passive learners.

353

Aboriginal students are a minority cultural group

within higher education institutions. Similar to other
minority groups, they are at risk of being unsuccessful in
their educational endeavors. Reeder, Macfadyen, Roche,
and Chase (2004) explored students experiences in a
computer-mediated course offered by the University of
British Columbia to culturally diverse groups across
Canada. Their research showed that, as compared with
other students, the Aboriginal learners in the course
posted significantly fewer messages and fewer long
messages, never directly addressed the faculty, and
demonstrated a drop-off in participation over time. In
the online classroom, Aboriginal students demonstrated
characteristics similar to those of the Asian students
described by Kataoka-Yahiro and Abriam-Yago (1997)
and Weitzel and Davidson-Shivers (2004).
Adding the element of distance education via the
internet has the potential to create further difficulties
because it introduces yet another cultural factor: the
unique cultural environment known as cyberculture.
Emerging from humancomputer interactions, the cyberculture has been described as constantly evolving and
rapidly mutating (Clarke, 1996; Polin, 2004), characterized by an official language of English, hyperspecialized
vocabulary, newbie snobbery, Anglo-American norms,
and qualities of aggressiveness, competitiveness, as well
as Western-style efficiency (Clarke, 1996; Reeder et al.,
2004). Far from being an antiseptic, neutral, and valuefree space in which persons of any cultural background
may find themselves part of the group, the internet often
highlights cultural differences between individuals as
well as between individuals and the dominant cyberculture of any space in which they participate (Reeder et al.,
2004; Tylee, n.d.). This can be obvious particularly
within online course environments.
Consideration of cultural issues is vital when designing
and using online environments (Seufert, 2000). Crow
(1993) offered a meta-orientation to the general university worldview and the Aboriginal worldview. He described the general university academic educational
viewpoint as representing the dominant Anglo-European
middle-class culture in its perspective as blinear, sequential, individualistic, competitive, dualistic, and with a
domination of natureQ (p. 199). In stark contrast to the
description of the university point of view, Crow
described the Aboriginal worldview as being bperceived
through a circular or spiral thought process or patterning,
which is holistic, pluralistic, and framed in an event
orientation that emphasizes cooperating groupsQ (p. 199).
Intercultural communication occurs when a message
is produced by a member of one cultural group for use by
a member of another cultural group (Lourens, 1999).
Given the competing cultural landscapes involved in
distance education (i.e., the individual, the society, and
the internet), there exists significant potential for
intercultural miscommunication. This can occur when
the message from one person to a person of another
cultural group is perceived in a negative manner.
Moreover, there can be complete failure in the transmis-

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RUSSELL ET AL

sion of the intended message. McVay Lynch (2004) noted

that intercultural miscommunication is most often
bcaused by well-meaning statements, where each person
behaves according to his or her own cultural norms,
rather than by deliberate unpleasantnessQ (p. 172).
Chase, Macfadyen, Reeder, and Roche (2002) described key areas of cultural value differences that affect
successful online communication: First, the greater the
perception of cultural differences between online
participants is, the greater the number of incidents of
miscommunication becomes. Greater cultural differences lead to increased anxiety that serves to augment
the incidence of miscommunication. Second, cultural
attitudes toward person-to-person communication using the online environment vary greatly. Chase et al.
specifically noted variations in attitudes toward relationships, authority, and the group. Finally, the lack in
an online environment of elements that are present in
face-to-face communication, such as eye contact, gestures, and context perception, may serve to amplify
miscommunication.
The increasing use of distance education technologies in nursing education combined with educators
efforts to reach students in diverse cultural groups
mandates research into faculty and student communication experiences within online environments. The
results of such an exploration may help educators
proactively identify problematic situations, establish
mechanisms for monitoring courses for such situations,
and institute strategies to avoid or decrease the effect of
intercultural miscommunication.

Study Design and Methods

In the context of a larger study aimed at describing the
learning experiences of Aboriginal nursing students
studying with the use of distance modalities in a
baccalaureate program, we posed the question, bWhat
are Aboriginal nursing students and facultys perspectives of the discourse and situations that occur within
the online environment?Q This study used an interpretive description methodology (Thorne, Kirkham, &
MacDonald-Emes, 1997) that relied on an analytical
framework to orient the inquiry and provide direction
for analysis.
Focus group and individual interviews were used to
collect data from 61 successful students, 4 unsuccessful
students, and 12 faculty. The research underwent
ethical review at the University of Manitoba. After
providing a thorough description of the study to the
students, we welcomed and answered their questions;
the participants signed a consent form before the study
commenced. Interviews were conducted in locations
convenient for the students. Most of the focus groups
were conducted at the distance education sites, whereas
the individual interviews were completed offsite at
agreed-upon locations. Interviews were audiotaped
and transcribed verbatim. Each student was offered an
honorarium of $30 to cover costs associated with
participating in the research (e.g., child care and travel).

As a data collection method, focus groups were

deemed to be highly appropriate for obtaining the
perspectives of Aboriginal students given that focus
group interviews allow for group interaction in answering relevant questions (Krueger & Casey, 2000).
Aboriginal people are familiar with talking circles,
healing circles, and other forms of shared group
interactions. The focus groups fostered similar opportunities for collaborative sharing and storytelling. The
decision to conduct individual person-centered interviews with unsuccessful students was based on sensitivity to participants withdrawal from the course or
from the program. In addition, we believed that each of
the unsuccessful students had a unique story that
reflected a specific constellation of factors that, for
them, precluded their success in the program.
Questions asked during the interviews provided an
initial structure for collapsing the interview text into
broad and manageable categories. The categories were
subsequently further refined into more specific themes
using a content analysis approach. A microlevel analysis
of the transcripts was conducted to examine quotes
relevant to the participants discourses about other
people, areas of misunderstanding within courses, and
recommendations for preventing misunderstandings.
The trustworthiness of the findings was enhanced by
following several procedures. Each team member read
all the transcripts and participated in face-to-face and
audio/video conference team meetings throughout the
data collection process. A research associate, who had
lived in Northern Manitoba and was a graduate student
in the Native Studies Program of the University of
Manitoba, collected and transcribed all the data and was
a full participant in the research meetings and data
analysis process. Preliminary results were presented at a
conference, provoking additional thoughts about the
analysis. Team members contributed to the development and refinement of this article. Experts in baccalaureate nursing education and distance education
reviewed the article and raised questions that were
discussed by the team.

Setting and Sample

Each academic year, 400 to 500 students enroll in the
Faculty of Nursings undergraduate programs across all
sites (i.e., Winnipeg, Norway House, The Pas, and
Thompson). At the time of the study, the Norway House
baccalaureate nursing education program was the only
one in Canada offered to a First Nations community
(Indian Reserve). This site admitted approximately 20
new students every other year. The Norway House site
was operated in partnership with the University College
of the North and the Norway House Cree Nation. It was
supported by the Manitoba Keewatinook Ininew Okimowin, a political advocacy organization composed of
northern chiefs. The three distant sites were located in
communities controlled by different bands.
The distance technologies used at the university for
reaching Aboriginal students in distant sites included

INTERCULTURAL MISCOMMUNICATION IN DISTANCE EDUCATION

LearnLinc, video conferencing, and WebCT. LearnLinc

provided synchronous two-way audio and text communication, whereas video conferencing offered synchronous two-way audio and video communication. WebCT
was a web-based asynchronous text and course management program.
Twenty-two focus groups were conducted with
current Aboriginal students from three sites within the
province of Manitoba, yielding 61 participants. Site
coordinators at each location assisted the projects
research associate with student recruitment. A purposive sampling strategy ensured the inclusion of Aboriginal students who had taken courses using one or more
of the distance technologies used at the university. Eight
focus groups with 15 participants were conducted in
Thompson, 10 focus groups with 24 participants were
conducted in The Pas, and 4 focus groups with 22
participants were conducted in Norway House. Study
participants included 17 prenursing (first-year and
second-year students), 33 third-year students, and 11
fourth-year students.
We thought it was important to learn from students
who had been unsuccessful in their learning at a
distance; therefore, we conducted individual interviews
with those students in each site (one from Thompson,
one from The Pas, and two from Norway House), for a
total of four interviews. These students had withdrawn
either from a distance course or from the program itself.
Finally, individual interviews were conducted with 12
faculty who had taught Aboriginal students in the
baccalaureate program using one or more of the
distance technologies.

Results
Beliefs and Interactions That Foster Intercultural
Miscommunication
The two primary themes of contrasting assumptions and
fractures and rifts in the discourse described the
participants beliefs and interactions that foster intercultural miscommunication. Each of these will be
described from the perspectives of students and
faculty.

Contrasting Assumptions
Contrasting assumptions were best described as statements that could, and often did, begin with btheyre like
this.Q These statements, made by faculty about students,
students about faculty, and students about other
students, reflected participants taken-for-granted attitudes about others. Students assumptions centered on
the benefits and drawbacks of on-campus life, negative
relationships with other sites, and perceptions of
faculty. Facultys assumptions dealt with the degree of
openness of Aboriginal students, the importance of
students cultural backgrounds, and students preparation for higher education and technology use.
Students Perspectives The distance learning program
Aboriginal students believed that students who attended

355

face-to-face classes at the main Winnipeg campus had

an advantage because every course in Winnipeg had a
face-to-face instructor whom each student would know.
I think the students in Winnipeg have an
advantage that we dont because the professor gets
to know the students, and its not fair to us who live
up here because. . .they have an advantage because
they are there. We dont. We just ask a question. . .[by introducing ourselves and asking the
question].
Many students, successful as well as unsuccessful,
perceived that they had no instructor when they used
the distance education modalities; their statements
included the following: bI was sort of expecting real
instructors,Q bI learn more and get more out of the
classes with an instructor,Q bIve heard that every course
in Winnipeg has an instructor,Q and bAs for the classes,
I guess its kind of different without an instructor. I feel
better when Im being taught by an instructor instead of
using technology.Q The students assumption that
distance education equated to having no instructor
led them to feel ignored and isolated by their faculty.
One student expressed the idea that, b[p]retty much
everything that weve learned, weve learned from each
other as a class.Q Some students believed that their
grades were lower than those of the on-campus
students because of their lack of personal interaction
with their faculty. Many students described having to
btake what we get to get doneQ in terms of not being
able to select instructors as they assumed on-campus
students could do.
Students comments also illustrated their assumptions
about the disadvantages of life bin the big cityQ and at
the university. For example, students described how
they would be fearful for themselves and their families if
they were required to go to the main campus. They
assumed that life in Winnipeg would be bintimidatingQ
and full of bdistractions.Q Part of the intimidation came
from the belief that Winnipeg was a big city with a fast
pace of life and a lack of security. The students were
concerned that if they took their families with them to
the campus, their children might get lost. Still other
students believed that a normal class size within the
main campus involved 200300 students among whom
they might have only ba couple of friends, but
everybody seems like a strange face.Q They feared there
would be no support within the main campus for their
personal and educational efforts and believed that
participation in small classes in their home communities
enabled them to know everyone well so that bif you
have trouble outside of class, youve got these other 15
20 students to help you.Q
Students expressed several negative assumptions
about other class sites. Many students noted a lack of
connection with their classmates from other sites,
voicing that they felt alone, frustrated, and discouraged.
They pointed to rivalries between sites and used these as
the basis for their beliefs that students from the other
sites were bvery opinionated,Q bcriticizing,Q and beach

356

town trying to outdo the other.Q Students had an

attitude that bwe are not always on the same wavelengthQ despite being from similar northern communities. In relation to the main campus, students assumed
that there were btwo different value sets. . .its totally
different between [northern] and southern people.Q
Comments prefaced by bI know its like that down
SouthQ reinforced the differences, rather than the
similarities, among students.
Finally, the students held several negative assumptions about their instructors. Some of these were class
related, including, bthey dont realize that we have other
classes,Q bthey dont like it when we log on from home
versus school,Q bits hard when your marks drop and it is
out of your control,Q and bthere are so many students
that the instructor doesnt know me.Q Some comments
reflected students views about facultys beliefs. Students
commented, bits like they dont give a rats ass about
people north of the perimeter,Q bwhen you have the
same instructor for several courses, they tend to label
you,Q and bI dont think she [the instructor] gives a
damn about us.Q
Facultys Perspectives. Faculty commented on their
beliefs about the communicative openness of Aboriginal
students. They assumed that Aboriginal students bare
very quiet and shy,Q bdont feel comfortable sharing,Q
blike to have a person to talk to instead of a microphone,Q bprefer working in small groups,Q bare audio
learners,Q bdont like to be asked questions,Q and bneed
more of a hands on.Q As a result of these assumptions,
faculty often used or avoided certain teaching strategies.
They were hesitant about calling students by name and
expecting them to talk in class. Because they believed
that students were familiar with storytelling, faculty
often included class activities that allowed for narrative
and personal experience sharing.
Faculty responses ranged from giving a great deal of
credence to students Aboriginal backgrounds to believing that all students should be treated the same
regardless of their heritage. An instructor who described
herself as reluctant to teach students according to their
cultural group felt that she would be bpigeon holing a
person and not respecting a person by saying dyou are an
Aboriginal, and here are all the issues you are going to
have.TQ However, most faculty identified a variety of
issues that they assumed to be relevant to Aboriginal
students and described how they attempted to incorporate these in their courses. Subjects specifically included
were bfamily issues,Q bculture shock,Q btransition issues,Q
boppression and colonialism,Q bmental health/illness,Q
and health care issues, such as suicide, alcoholism,
depression, as well as posttraumatic stress disorder.
Several faculty described their beliefs about Aboriginal students lack of preparation for higher education
and use of technology. Most faculty were convinced
that, as a group, Aboriginal students were less prepared
for their educational experiences as compared with their
main campus cohorts. Students lack of preparation was

RUSSELL ET AL

attributed to the level of elementary and secondary

education in Aboriginal communities. Some faculty
assumed that if they were in a face-to-face classroom
with students, rather than in distance education courses,
they would more quickly pick up on important body
language and realize who was struggling.
Fractures and Rifts in the Discourse. Fractures and rifts
in the discourse were specific interactions and situations
with critical, problematic, or striking sets of circumstances that resulted in negative attributions. These led
the participants to feel they were being treated badly or
differently from others. Whereas contrasting assumptions were based on participants beliefs about others,
fractures and rifts in the discourse reflected participants
negative attributions to specific occurrences. Students
examples focused on facultys insensitive comments
about the North and about Aboriginal students, feeling
accused by faculty and staff when technology failed, and
feeling reprimanded when faculty misperceived their
comments. Facultys stories were diverse and showed
their disbelief at some interactions as well as their
realization that students did not always perceive faculty
actions in the manner that faculty intended.
Students Perspectives. Students perceived that faculty
made insensitive comments about their local communities or about Aboriginal students. bThey [the faculty]
make stupid comments about [students in northern
communities], like asking ddo you guys get the paper?T
Were not that isolated!Q Another group of students
described how an instructor called them bkindergarten
kids.Q In more than one instance, students described
how they were referred to as byou people up NorthQ and
how they were not pleased to be referred to as a singular
group and in what they perceived as negative ways.
Students sensed an overemphasis on their Aboriginal
culture by the faculty, saying, bits almost a tune that
everybody who lives in the North is Aboriginal.Q Faculty
were perceived as not understanding the Aboriginal
culture and the settings in which students lived and
studied. In more than one instance, students reported
being told, bwell, just go to your bookstore,Q although
they had no local bookstore.
Several students perceived that faculty and staff
accused them when technology failed at the distant sites.
One students story was representative of that of others:
I tried logging onto WebCT and I was arbitrarily
locked out. My password had changed, unbeknownst to me. I had to track someone down in IT
[information technology], which here isnt always
the easiest thing to do. They implied it was somehow
something I had done wrong, whereas there was no
possible way. I had been logging on without
problems the whole year prior to today.
When technology failed, students often missed class
materials. They reported that faculty sometimes apologized, although students were told that they would need
to learn the materials on their own because bwere not

INTERCULTURAL MISCOMMUNICATION IN DISTANCE EDUCATION

going to go back and lecture and penalize the other

students [who were not disconnected].Q Statements such
as this left the impression that the Aboriginal students
were less important than other students.
There were several situations in which the students
perceived that faculty were reprimanding them and
cutting off their communication. They described confrontational faculty who made students feel uncomfortable and bstupid at times because of his [the facultys]
choices of words.Q The asynchronous discussion board
was noted as a particular source of difficulty. In one
instance, a student used a particular word that had been
used in other courses, but bthe instructor reprimanded
her via e-mail saying that she could get in serious
trouble for cursing on the web site.Q The students
believed that this instructor was offended because she
was unsure what the students were talking about and
that bshe has no sense of humor.Q Students also noticed
the inconsistency of acceptable discussion board language across faculty.
Facultys Perspectives. Faculty described several disparate situations with Aboriginal students that perplexed
them or created tension between them and the students.
In one instance, a fourth-year student asked the
instructor in the middle of a class to recalculate her
class marks, which surprised the instructor because of
the requests inappropriateness in terms of timing. In
other instances, students walked in front of the video
camera with their backs to the camera and talked among
themselves during the video class. One instructor stated
her belief that the students behavior bwas not purposeful, but it is interfering.Q
When Aboriginal students missed tests because of
personal life crises, instructors questioned students
abilities to prioritize, even while saying, bprioritize may
be a judgmental word.Q Faculty noted the multiple
barriers that students faced in attending school,
including social problems, babysitting, difficult relationships, and English as a second language. Given the
tendency for the technology to sometimes fail, instructors often had to halt the flow of class and ask if each
site was still connected. One instructor found this
practice to be fodder for a skit in a student presentation, with the faculty being portrayed in the skit as
stopping every few minutes to say, bAre you there, The
Pas?Q Students at the distant sites sometimes fell asleep
during class, leading faculty to feel ba great sense of
miserable failure.Q Instances of technology failure
required classes to halt while the site that had been
disconnected dialed back into the class. This interruption was annoying to faculty as well as students from
other sites. Faculty wondered how the disconnections
could occur so frequently.

Recommendations for Avoiding Intercultural

Miscommunication
Students and faculty identified and agreed on several
strategies that could be implemented to avoid, decrease,

357

and/or eliminate intercultural miscommunication. Although the primary recommendation of both groups
was that faculty and students needed to take time to get
to know each other better, participants offered additional specifics.
Students Perspectives. Students thought it was important for faculty to get to know them as individuals and
as part of their local culture just as they believed in the
importance of learning about their faculty. Faculty
engaged in tangible activities that demonstrated to the
students their desire to understand them and their
culture. Faculty also exhibited attitudes that demonstrated to the students their desire to engage with the
students, learn from and with the students, and be
comfortable with the students.
Faculty actions that students perceived as positive
and requiring additional effort were described in each
of the focus groups. These efforts centered on e-mail
and telephone calls, attentiveness to each site, and
traveling to the distant sites from the main campus.
Students communicated more with faculty when they
were invited to bcall or e-mail after hours or at home.Q
When faculty invited such communication and provided a rapid response to students contacts, students
perceived that faculty understood them and their
needs for communication. Faculty who (a) purposefully took the time to ensure that students at each
distant site had their questions answered before the
end of a class and (b) expected each site to contribute
during class were described by students as bcaring
about usQ and bnot just seeing us as one big group in
the North.Q This personalization of the distance
education experience was important for the individualization of students educational experiences and the
collectivization of students cultural identity. Finally,
students recommended that each instructor teaching
by distance education should come to the distant sites
at least once, preferably at the beginning of the term.
Students saw this as an opportunity for faculty to
blearn about our way of learning, our culture, what
resources we have.Q Those faculty who had made the
effort to go to the distant sites at some point were
remembered by the students, who had little negative to
say about those faculty.
The importance of facultys interpersonal conduct
was a topic brought up at each focus group in one way
or another. Students appreciated faculty who brought
elements of humor and storytelling to the classroom.
Starting the day with a joke or comic strip was noted to
bmake the class lighter, makes me try harderQ; one
student responded, bI get respect for the teacher, dont
want to let them down, I put in the extra effort.Q
Students held a favorable view of faculty who told
stories about themselves, whether something from their
personal lives, their past education, or their nursing
experience. It was not merely the case that students
wanted to know about their faculty. When faculty used
their stories to make points in class, the students found

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RUSSELL ET AL

it easier to anchor their learning on points with which

they were having difficulty grasping.
Facultys Perspectives. Faculty comments supported
students recommendations for the faculty to learn more
about the Aboriginal students perspectives and culture.
In addition, faculty focused on additional steps that
could be taken to maximize students learning and
minimize the potential for miscommunication.
Faculty described several tangible actions that they
undertook to better understand their Aboriginal students and to make use of students unique perspectives
and backgrounds. They agreed with students that going
in person to the distant sites was important, saying that,
bhow we start off with them, the introduction, is all
importantQ and bif you dont [travel to the other sites],
they dont find out who you are. Once they know [who
you are], you are approachable.Q Faculty who traveled
to the distant sites typically did not lecture during their
visit and instead had a social gathering that involved
food and relaxed conversations so they could get to
know their students.
Incorporating cultural components, either by relating
coursework to local sites or by asking Aboriginal students
to share their knowledge of the Aboriginal culture, was a
strategy used by several faculty. Some faculty commented
about the richness of their experiences in learning from
the students. They observed that as they bracketed their
preconceived notions of the Aboriginal culture, their
perspectives were enriched by viewing situations
through the eyes of the students. Similar to the students,
faculty commented on the importance of being expressive when teaching and using relevant stories as well as
humor in their classes. Faculty believed that these
strategies helped them reach the distant students and
showed faculty as personable and patient.
Faculty also described steps that they took to
maximize students learning at distant sites. A strategy
used by one faculty was to teach the distance and oncampus students at different times. Although this
meant doubly teaching the content, the faculty noted
that the distance learning program students bfelt cared
about and cared for because I could focus on their
specific needs.Q Students realized that the faculty was
doing this for them, and they noted their appreciation
in the interviews. Faculty acknowledged the limitations
of the technology and the tendency for the technology
to fail at times. They discussed the importance of bnot
stressing out if it goes downQ and the need to have
alternate plans if technology problems arose. Some
faculty spoke of the need for courses to help them
understand how to teach better using the available
distance education modalities, including components
that would help facilitate their communication with
distant and Aboriginal students.

Discussion
The discourses and experiences of the Aboriginal
students and faculty in an online baccalaureate nursing

program reflected numerous instances of intercultural

miscommunication. Whether anchored on assumptions
about others or arising from interpretations of dialogues and situations, participants readily offered
descriptions of miscommunication and how miscommunication affected the teachinglearning experiences
within the course. The findings of this study support
the social constructivism perspective of Vygotsky
(1978) because they highlight the importance of
culture and context as well as the negotiation of
meaning and learning. It was clear that the distance
education environment provided an additional cultural
context for participants to negotiate.
The results of this study also lend credence to the
findings of Haulmark (2002) on the potentially problematic nature of cross-cultural learning situations.
Haulmark established that the problems experienced
by Thai students in an online class with non-Thai
faculty and students related to the (a) social positions of
teachers and students, (b) relevance of the curriculum,
(c) cognitive abilities of students and faculty, and (d)
expected patterns of teacherstudent and student
student interactions. In this study, participants repeatedly referred to the importance of facultys and students
social positions and backgrounds as well as expected
interactional patterns, noting how these provided a
context for their course expectations.
Participants repeated references to btheyre like thisQ
when describing other individuals in this study have
implications for how faculty and students relate to
individuals whom they perceive as different from them.
Bunkers (2003) described the need to understand the
stranger, or the other, in our teachinglearning processes. She challenged educators to incorporate teaching
learning processes that foster understanding of the
stranger. In doing this, faculty can bprovide a safe place
for dialogue about diversity, the questioning of ones
own and others beliefs and assumptions, and provide
the opportunities for transformationQ (p. 309). Attentive
listening, authentic inquisitiveness, and true presence
are requisite behaviors in developing an understanding
of the other.
However, it is important to note that some assumptions held by faculty and students were correct. For
example, faculty spoke of the importance of telling
stories, the value of going to meet the remotely located
Aboriginal students in person, and the lack of nonverbal
cues in a distance environment that could increase their
awareness of students who might be struggling. Student
interviews supported the accuracy of these assumptions
held by faculty. What was interesting, however, is that
the assumptions were not described as being grounded
in the literature about Aboriginal learners. In contrast,
the assumptions were most often derived from other
colleagues experiences with teaching Aboriginal learners. This is problematic in that an ethnocentric bias of
faculty believing bwe know what works bestQ may not
always meet the needs of learners, especially learners of
a different cultural background.

INTERCULTURAL MISCOMMUNICATION IN DISTANCE EDUCATION

The description of othering provided by MacCallum

(2002) holds relevance for understanding the perspectives of faculty and students in this study. Speaking about
us and them is an example of othering in which facultys
and students definitions are conceptualized in relation to
what each person is not (i.e., the other). Dualistic
perspectives of us and them serve to reify power
structures, lead to objectification of persons or groups,
and blind individuals to potentially harmful acts and
interventions, however well intentioned they may be.
The data in this research consistently showed that
when students and faculty connected with each other,
there were fewer negative attributions to facultys
comments, there was a better relationship between
faculty and students, and students were engaged more
deeply with the course material. In their study on
baccalaureate nursing students perspectives of effective
and ineffective classroom nursing instructors, Berg and
Lindseth (2004) found that personality, teaching method, presentation, demeanor/attitude, and enthusiasm
were the primary characteristics of effective instructors.
In another study on Nigerian nursing students stressors
and counseling needs, a positive association was found
between students psychologic distress and lecturers
who were inconsiderate and insensitive (Omigbodun,
Onibokun, Yusuf, Odukogbe, & Omigbodun, 2004). In
this study, Aboriginal students and faculty spoke about
each of these characteristics at some length.
It is clear that the Aboriginal students in this study
preferred learning that provided personal contact with
the instructor, defined as the person perceived as the
authority figure. The students also preferred learning
opportunities that related the course content to their or
their facultys personal experiences.

Implications
Consistent with the descriptions by McVay Lynch
(2004), the results of this study revealed that most
instances of intercultural miscommunication were
caused by well-meaning statements and behaviors rather
than deliberate unpleasantness. It is important for
faculty to recognize that cultural identity constitutes
an important part of each person in the class, including
them. McVay Lynch described how a code of conduct
established at the outset of a course provided a useful
strategy for helping the group avoid some incidents of
miscommunication that often occur among participants
of different cultures. This code of conduct can be
established in conjunction with students, encouraging
them to participate in the development of standards that
all course participants will respect and adhere to during
their courses. In this study, it was apparent that
participants desired a respectful and supportive online
community. McInnerney and Roberts (2004) supported
the provision of and adherence to guidelines for
successful online communication. In addition, they
stressed the importance of including more opportunities
for synchronous communication and deliberate attention to a warm-up period in the course.

359

Encouraging students and faculty to apply their MRI

(most respectful interpretation) to course dialogues and
situations is another strategy that can help defuse
potential instances of miscommunication. Lewis
(2000) offered a helpful mnemonic for communicating
online: WRITE, in which individuals should be Warm,
Responsive, Inquisitive, Tentative, and Empathetic.
Incorporating MRI and WRITE communication guidelines into course syllabi for didactic courses will serve as
constant reminders of the importance of a respectful
discourse within classes.
The findings of this study have implications for how
faculty conduct themselves and negotiate the boundaries
of oneself and others within face-to-face and online
courses. Qualitative researchers consistently encounter
situations in which oneself and others, or us and them,
must be negotiated to construct an understanding of those
persons who are unlike the researchers. The challenge of
bworking the hyphenQ identified by Fine (1994, p. 70) in
qualitative research has relevance for faculty who struggle
with the facultystudent hyphen and the artificial duality
of us and them. Translating Fines working-the-hyphen
concept for an academic teaching situation requires that
faculty create occasions for them and students to bdiscuss
what is, and is not, dhappening betweenTQ (p. 74).
The use of various distance education modalities in
the academic environment is increasing. It is important
to fully support faculty and students in learning more
not only about how to use the technology but also about
how to avoid instances of miscommunication that are
related to the use of technology. Several faculty
expressed their desire for courses to help them learn
more about teaching and learning via distance education. Material relevant to communicating online and the
uniqueness of this form of communication would be
useful for faculty. It is similarly important to provide
students with a strong orientation in distance education
and technology use. There is a tendency for confusion
when students traditional cultures collide with the
cultures of technology and distance education (Lourens,
1999). Making students and faculty aware of the
potential for miscommunication and offering mechanisms for incorporating traditional culture in the
distance education environment can facilitate the
teaching and learning experience.
Members of cultural groups have a strong ethnocentric tendencyan inclination to use their own culture to
evaluate the actions of individuals from other cultural
groups. Ethnocentrism was evident in the perspectives
of the students and faculty in this study. The tendency
of faculty to view Aboriginal students as a homogeneous
group belied the within-group heterogeneity of the
students. Students were from three distant sites, with
communities that varied widely and having experienced
very different situations in their upbringing. When fixed
conceptualizations of cultural characteristics were ascribed to a group, such as Aboriginal nursing students,
the uniqueness and differences of individuals within
that group were masked. Furthermore, teaching and

360

RUSSELL ET AL

learning strategies may tend to be applied in a blanket

manner, without accounting for individual learning
styles or preferences. Increasing the awareness of faculty
and students on the potential influence of ethnocentrism may provide them with a different insight on and
interpretation of the discourse and situations that occur
in online education.

Conclusions
Discourse ethics are motivated by values of respect,
truth, sincerity, fairness, equity, participation, and
accountability (McVay Lynch, 2004). Distance education, particularly with participants of different cultural
backgrounds, presents unique challenges to understanding and communicating. The cultures and values of
every participant in the online environment are an
inextricable part of each person. It is imperative that
nursing educators acknowledge the presence of diversity
within online groups, respect the uniqueness of each
student, and implement strategies to bridge the hyphen
between us and them. Our nursing programs must offer
opportunities for facultystudent reflections on the
teachinglearning process and systematically provide
faculty and students with guidance in negotiating their
differences within face-to-face and online courses if we
are to recruit, retain, and graduate students whose
backgrounds vary from those of their faculty.

Acknowledgments
We thank the Social Sciences and Humanities
Research Council of Canada for funding this research.
We also thank Drs. Susan Jacob and Victoria Murrell for
providing reviews and critiques on the manuscript.

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