Background: Online distance learning (e-learning) is an established method for providing higher education on a global scale due to its potential to reduce inequalities particularly in the area of public health education. Simultaneously, multicultural education is a key component of health education and can be achieved by fostering cultural pluralism and mutual respect within the teaching and learning environment. Objective: Online learning in public health has the potential to bring together practitioners in various fields within a unified forum. Given that undergraduate and graduate education and student interest in the field of public health has grown worldwide over the past decade, exploring the unique features of distance learning becomes a priority area. Consequently, the need for cross-cultural collaborative learning has been on the rise. Methods: The Education Resources Information Center (ERIC), MEDLINE, PsycINFO and Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) were searched using the keywords ‘e-learning’, ‘multicultural online education’, ‘cultural sensitivity’, ‘transcultural’, ‘cultural diversity’, ‘multicultural education theory’, ‘distance learning’, ‘public health’ and ‘cultural competence’. The quality of each study was rated against set inclusion and exclusion criteria. Results: Employing different sociological models, this paper (1) describes the historical development of the theories of cultural diversity, (2) describes a cohesive and novel theoretical framework for addressing a cross-cultural approach to public health education and (3) reviews the literature on online education as a means to suggesting different ways in which cross-cultural education can be more fully integrated. Conclusion: Implementation of this theoretical framework proposed here may lead to a better understanding of how best to enhance online public health education and how different forms of peer support can foster cross-cultural educational uptake.

The majority of surveyed surgeons use MRI for pelvic staging and discuss rectal cancer cases at multidisciplinary cancer conference. Many are using minimally invasive techniques; however, the use of taTME is not yet widespread. Surgeons currently favor longer intervals from neoadjuvant chemoradiation to surgery, and the management strategy for patients with complete clinical response remains controversial. Great variability exists in rectal cancer management, thus presenting an opportunity for improvements by adopting standardization and centralization of rectal cancer management.

Given the increasing number of available e-learning platforms, individuals are now able to pursue degrees and courses through an online modality. As a result, education has proliferated to include individuals from varying cultural groups, age distributions, and occupational qualifications. With the inclusion of a wide variety of groups, multicultural considerations are critical. However, from a multiculturalist and poststructaralist perspective, conventional models of multiculturalism are considered essentialist and often fastened by tradition rather than dynamic and continuously evolving practices. In this paper, the authors will apply multiculturalism to online education; present a critical perspective; and finally demonstrate a novel, dynamic and adaptable model that uses a poststructuralist viewpoint in order to meet the multicultural needs of the online student of today and possibly tomorrow. This model is derived from the key strengths of the Social Ecological Model, Hofstede's cultural dimensions theory, and Kolb's learning styles.

Given the increasing number of available e-learning platforms, individuals are now able to pursue degrees and courses through an online modality. As a result, education has proliferated to include individuals from varying cultural groups, age distributions, and occupational qualifications. With the inclusion of a wide variety of groups, multicultural considerations are critical. However, from a multiculturalist and poststructaralist perspective, conventional models of multiculturalism are considered essentialist and often fastened by tradition rather than dynamic and continuously evolving practices. In this paper, the authors will apply multiculturalism to online education; present a critical perspective; and finally demonstrate a novel, dynamic and adaptable model that uses a poststructuralist viewpoint in order to meet the multicultural needs of the online student of today and possibly tomorrow. This model is derived from the key strengths of the Social Ecological Model, Hofstede's cultural dimensions theory, and Kolb's learning styles.