While distance education continues to grow in higher education, students express the concern that they feel isolated. The purpose of this study was to determine if the implementation of a cooperative learning strategy would affect social presence and achievement. Each group completed an individual assignment and a cooperative learning assignment working in groups. There were no differences in achievement due to a possible ceiling effect on the assessment. While the results are mixed, they suggest additional studies using cooperative learning as a strategy to increase student engagement in a distance education environment.