Online learning is a relatively young field that is still being defined as a discipline. As faculty members wrestle with decisions about how to structure online courses for collaborative, connected learning, student perspectives of successful courses can provide valuable insights for decision-making. This paper presents general research findings pertaining to collaboration in online learning courses along with personal insights from a second year student in the Nova Southeastern University (Florida) School of Computer and Information Sciences Doctoral Computing Technology in Education program into what makes a project-based online course successful as a collaborative learning experience. The paper begins with general guidelines and a discussion of effective team members and communication as the key to collaboration. Instructor factors are addressed, including the importance of a challenging project, clearly stated project requirements, flexibility in meeting project requirements, subdividing the project, general guidelines for team formation, allocating time for team relationship building, and maintaining a presence with students. Student factors are then described, including defining team member roles, defining team member responsibilities, establishing team goals, establishing team deadlines, guidelines for team communications, guidelines for resolving differences of opinion, scheduling regular online synchronous meetings, and other means of team communications. (Contains 15 references.) (Author/MES)