Geographical, temporal, and psychological distance are all issues students face when completing courses in an online distance education format. The psychological distance, or immediacy, plays an important role in the student - instructor relationship, impacting areas including achievement, course satisfaction, and persistence. Instructor immediacy may be increased by leveraging communication behaviors (e.g., addressing students by name, providing feedback, and using humor) which help to reduce the psychological distance between instructors and students. This thesis examines students' perceptions of instructor immediacy and its impact on students' engagement in educationally purposeful activities (academic engagement) in the context of an online course. A questionnaire gauging students' perceptions of instructor immediacy and their level of academic engagement was administered to students enrolled in at least one online course at a community college. Overall, a small positive correlational relationship was found between instructor immediacy and academic engagement. This relationship was further examined based on students' demographic characteristics, academic experience, and academic performance. The results suggest that academic engagement generally increases as perceived instructor immediacy increases; in effect, certain student groups experience greater academic engagement as perceived instructor immediacy increases. These results may provide guidance for online course instructors in terms of communication behaviors which may be more beneficial for their students.