Educators’ Perspectives on Transmedia Identity Management: Refining Tele-teacher Presence Julie-Ann Sime & Chryssa Themelis Educational Research Dept., Lancaster University, Lancaster, U.K. j.sime@lancaster.ac.uk, c.themelis1@lancaster.ac.uk Visual media are now a common feature of distance education and virtual reality environments are increasingly used. This has boosted research into questions surrounding visual media and technologies for educators’ professional development and teaching practice. This research explores educators’ views on identity and teaching presence in visual media in distance education. We interviewed 18 experienced educators and categorised their views on identity and visual media. The findings suggest that digital identity can be seen through the lens of networks with others, and that transmedia identity management, i.e. the ability to create and manage multiple identities across different technology platforms, is a key competence for online educators as a means of building trust within online learning communities. As a result, we modified tele-proximity theory (Themelis, 2013, 2014; Themeli & Bougia 2016) by refining the concept of tele-teacher presence is refined to include transmedia identity management. The implications for practice are that the professional development of online educators should include knowledge and competence in tele-teacher presence and especially transmedia identity management. Keywords: distance education, teacher competence, identity, visual literacy, community of inquiry, teaching presence, tele-proximity theory. Introduction Despite the popularity of tweets, chatrooms and discussion fora, visuals dominate online interactions and social media (99Firms, 2019; Stokes & Price, 2017). Photos, videos, e- moji, animated characters (bitmoji) and avatars seem to be shared rapidly and as a