Abstract: Wikis, as a medium to deliver distance learning offers a learning environment that engages and empowers online learners. Wikis offer benefits not typically found in traditional content management systems such as interaction, creativity, virtual collaboration, resources sharing, joint authorship, seamless integration of Internet-based content, and ease of use. These benefits provide a medium that can be more conducive to building community, an element found necessary for engaging learners in a distance learning environment. Using the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework, the authors conducted a non-experimental study to examine student perceptions of community in a wiki-based, graduate-level online course. Results indicate that a wiki environment is an effective technology for building community but this technology is only useful when social and cognitive presences are built into the course. Results also show that the participation of the instructor is critical for engaging learners in the resolution phase of the inquiry process.