The transactional distance created by asynchronous online course formats poses unique challenges to the development of a collaborative learning environment. The lack of face-to-face interaction also challenges instructors' ability to make adaptive changes to course content in response to emerging student needs. The authors describe a professor's process of continuous improvement in an online doctoral course to create a collaborative learning environment. Leveraging available communication technologies and bridging media cultivated a supportive community of inquiry, including social, cognitive, and teaching presence. The authors describe the identified problem, course goals, and process of this work, as well as a brief summary of students' feedback about their experiences with this process.