Incivility in Diverse Populations in Distance Education
Abstract: The availability of online education has rapidly increased in enrollment and popularity to meet the challenges of health care providers, faculty, and health science students. Online education has offered opportunities to the people of the Arkansas-Mississippi Delta Region and the international student population with interest in health science degrees. This diverse population in an online classroom has added to the incivility among students and student faculty relationships. This incivility exists in a culturally diverse population of non-traditional students, in the mid to lower socioeconomic groups, living in rural areas that are distanced from the university. Varying levels of understanding of civil behaviors has compounded the opportunity for incivility to exist. Faculty considerations to develop a learning environment of civility in the diverse online classroom are offered.