How exciting! I just posted a similar question on another thread. My question was turned a little differently. Because my research interest is in virtual worlds (SL particularly), I am looking at questions such as choice of avatar, gestures, etc. to answer questions on students' perception of social presence and immediacy of the instructor. I do not know yet if I'll be able to actually deal with my main interest of cultural transfer in a virtual world communication (teaching/learning event) and how it affects learning.

The process by which learners adapt to different cultures instructional approaches and techniques:
Very very interesting and so relevant. One example I wish to share is my experience last week with an Adobe product that a faculty at SDSU wanted to use to facilitate commuters' participation to a Saturday workshop. 3 out-of-San Diego colleagues and I went to the link and were able to see (video), hear (audio), and share (text chat box, and screen-share area for ppt and other documents). A couple of problems appeared quickly as the faculty had locked her mic on open so that she would not have to remain at her computer with a finger on "talk" while she addresses the room and the distance participants. The unexpected result was that we could not use our audio, unless the group leader disables her mic...which happened only during the break.
Another problem was that no one had been designated to read the chat box and be "our voice" and relate our question/comment to the facilitator of the workshop. Consequently a few questions or comments went unnoticed, or were mentioned out of context a long time after the original thought which triggered it had been dealt with.
Finally, one more problem was the use of the video. Although thought to be a great tool to deal with instructor immediacy and social presence, the camera in this instance was focused on the facilitator's computer...with an occasional view of the back of the head of that very facilitator. Needless to say, the video added nothing to the distance experience. The resulting instructor immediacy and social presence was very low.

Why am I telling this: well, the instructor had mentioned that she had no time trying other tools such as Google doc/presentation and Skype, and that she'll go with a new tool called...and get SDSU edtec IT to help her. Great. Except that she was not proficient in the tool's affordances or general ecology that she chose.

If we decide that we (faculty and students) are all learners, then the results were that the distance students were learning the tool must faster than the faculty. For what reason? maybe curiosity, learn-by-doing, experience with other conferencing tools, ...I am not sure. What I am sure of is that the faculty had not identified the problems we were experiencing until we explained them to her and provided suggestions. She had been frustrated with a few issues but would not take 5 minutes to address them with us on the other side. By the time we could "talk", the workshop was over.

Can personal characteristics such as curiosity, low level of fear, etc be considered cultural traits? yes, Hofstedes even mentioned these. And we've established that they can also differ from one individual to the next in the same "nation."
For example, my faculty above chose a tool from a list created within her culture (and sub-culture). The distance students were more successful at using that tool than she was.

So I agree that students do have their share of learning curve with the instructional tools used, but what is the reality (practice) behind the faculty choice for a specific tool? Does the faculty know the affordances of the medium to decide if this tool is ecologically fit to the content of the instruction as well as the physical reality and need of the interaction (do you really need video? Are you briefing the students on what that particular tool facilitates? etc). A related question would be "what training are faculty getting to be able to choose an instructional medium relevant to the content and physicality of the instruction?" The wow factor can't usually hide the shortcoming of a mis-fit, because the students' resulting perception of the learning experience is very poor...however cool the gadgets were.

I think that is a very interesting question too. What is the process by which learners adapt to different cultures instructional approaches and techniques - and what can be done to help those learners do it more quickly and with less pain and frustration than might otherwise be the case? You lived this experience - is there anything that you can think of that would have made it easier for you at the time?