From Context to Collaboration: A Culturallyattuned AI-powered User Experience Framework for Virtual Collaboration Tools

As virtual collaboration in higher education becomes more widespread, especially among diverse student groups, there is a growing need for digital tools that are both effective and culturally sensitive. This conceptual paper presents a new theoretical framework that combines Nielsen's usability heuristic with Hall's high-context and low-context cultural theory to support the design of user experience (UX) in virtual collaboration tools that take different cultural contexts into account. The theoretical framework integrates usability principles with cultural communication theory to provide a structured approach for evaluating and designing inclusive interfaces that enhance the user experience. The conceptual paper aims to (1) develop a theoretical framework to guide the design of culturally sensitive digital environments with AI-driven features and (2) propose three propositions in relation to the adaptive user experiences in virtual collaboration tools.