Addressing multiculturalism for e-learning in higher education environments: A view of South East Europe

World Wide Web with the rapid development of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in HE has caused changes in the way teaching and learning is viewed increasing the diversity of the students' cohorts. Thus, students will increasingly be asked to interact with other students in multicultural environments for which they may be ill-prepared. This study identifies potential communication problems of students from South East Europe when they collaborate and co-operate in a synchronous chat and investigate if these problems can be related and attributed to differences arising from the diversity of students' cultural backgrounds. This study followed a mixed method approach to research by employing both quantitative and qualitative research methods of data collection and analysis was employed in a sample of 40 students. The results of this study showed that communication problems may arise between the participants from the investigated countries concerning the power distance cultural dimension. Although communication problems were identified, communication never broke down and the groups were all able to fulfil the goals of the activity more or less. The paper concludes that a sound appreciation or at least acknowledgment of the problems associated with diversity is essential for the survival of a multicultural teaching and learning activity not only for cultures with obvious differences such as between Chinese and American cultures that have already been proven, but for closer cultures of the same region (SEE Region) as well. This research is one of the few studies, which examines cultural communication problems between students coming from close cultures with common historical background. © 2011 IADIS