The present study is a qualitative case study of an experimental basic-English online course with emphasis on the development of writing and reading skills. This course was offered to students from different countries, whose native language was not English and was delivered simultaneously by two teachers of English residing in distinct countries. The study attempted to verify whether the students in the course, which adopted a teaching and learning collaborative/communicational methodology, became a "learning community" as per the characteristics described by several theoreticians from which we selected the following: students' common interests in attending the course: empathy, collaborative sociability and time of exposure in the group. The data were collected from the course when it was given. Data consisted of digital documents (such as students' email, email exchanged between the teachers, questionnaires, registers of students' participation in the discussion forum, chat sessions and individual, peer and collective task performance), and the participant observation of the teacher/researcher throughout the course. The theoretical framework was based on communicative theory, the collaborative learning approach, the theoretical framework on virtual learning communities and on online courses. The data showed that the online course achieved its objective of promoting collective learning. The data also confirmed that a learning community was created and maintained.