This book is an investigation into the role which social presence and identity play in online learning environments. This book was originally published as a special issue of Distance Education.

Introduction - Social presence, identity, and online learning: research development and needs 1. In search of a better understanding of social presence: an investigation into how researchers define social presence 2. Othering in online learning: an examination of social presence, identity, and sense of community 3. Identity, context collapse, and Facebook use in higher education: putting presence and privacy at odds 4. Discursive construction of social presence and identity positions in an international bilingual collaboration 5. 'Not the same person anymore': groupwork, identity and social learning online 6. The interactions between facilitator identity, conflictual presence, and social presence in peer-moderated online collaborative learning 7. Presence and learning in a community of inquiry 8. Social presence reconsidered: moving beyond, going back, or killing social presence