Forbes, Dianne Leslie2015-07-1920152015-07-192015Forbes, D. L. (2015). Building Connections: Professional online presence and learning networks. In Proceedings of the 2nd European Conference on Social Media (pp. 173–180). Porto, Portugal.978-1-910810-31-62055-7213https://hdl.handle.net/10289/9473The focus of this paper is on social media in teacher education in relation to the use of social media for building a professional online presence and learning network. This paper relates experience and insights drawn from my own work as a teacher educator experimenting with social media, and presents a discussion of tertiary teaching practice, ethnographic research in progress and innovation in action. In the context of teacher education, the question posed is: How might social media support professional learning? Recent reports suggest that social media is used in teacher education for sharing content, discussing and collaborating. There are, however, challenges and risks with social media in an academic context. These are explored, along with implications for student learning, professional expectations, policy, research and practice in teacher education. Specific practical illustrations are provided, drawing upon work across several blended teacher education programmes in New Zealand, relating experiences when starting out with social media, integrating coursework challenges for student teachers, and considering feedback and future planning. Finally, issues and challenges are summed up, highlighting attitudes, learning orientations and safety.application/pdfenThis is an author’s accepted version of an article published Proceedings of the 2nd European Conference on Social Media. © 2015 Copyright by the author.Conference Contribution