Research on emotional presence within an online community of inquiry demonstrates the salience of emotion in online learning. Those engaged in online learning deal with the effects of emotion on a daily basis, whether designing instruction, teaching, or learning online. The work of Damasio and LeDoux independently suggests that emotion is neither an objective nor outcome of learning yet is central to cognition. This session will present theory and data regarding online emotional presence and provide opportunity for discussion of the effect on teaching, learning and instructional design to ensure appropriate emotional engagement.