In the online learning world it is easy to become so preoccupied by technology that technology solutions are mistaken for educational solutions. Long-term improvements in online departmental and university communities require an educational approach that recognizes the reduced delivery of community in the online world, just as research has shown a reduction of community inside the online classroom. The educational approach should focus on supplementing the limitations of online learning with increased interactions that convey both feelings and ideas. This article reports a study which indicates that online graduate students feel less connected to their departments and university than face-to-face students and that a small amount of face-to-face interaction noticeably strengthens this connection. Well-studied classrooms (both online and face-to-face) show that when students feel connected to a learning community, they demonstrate improved learning, and when students feel estranged from their learning communities, learning outcomes are negatively affected. Future research is needed to see if community outside the classroom affects learning outcomes in a similar fashion. (Contains 5 figures and 42 endnotes.)