For many college students, the traditional classroom is the lone point of contact between themselves and their instructors. Unfortunately, this interaction may not be sufficient to promote learning at the highest level, as students' questions do not simply disappear with the dismissal of class, their concerns and anxieties are not alleviated when they get up to leave, and their need for clarification, reinforcement, support, and guidance does not cease when they walk out the door. Rather, learning at the collegiate level requires significant time and effort outside of the classroom. While the majority of this effort is assumed by students, instructors offer significant contributions through out-of-class communication.
Research on out-of-class communication has developed significantly over the last decade; however, there have been few, if any, attempts to synthesize the findings from these investigations using a quantitative approach. Such attempts are needed to generate a "more objective appraisal of the evidence than traditional narrative reviews, provide a more precise estimate of...effect[s], and explain heterogeneity between the results of individual studies" (Egger, Smith, & Phillips, 1997, p. 1533). Specifically, a comprehensive view of the relationship between out-of-class communication and students' learning outcomes is needed to evaluate the importance of these experiences and to determine if future investigations are warranted on the topic. The primary purpose of this study was to conduct a meta-analysis to synthesize the magnitude of effects for out-of-class communication on students' cognitive and affective learning. The secondary purpose was to determine if significant moderators existed for these learning effects. The final purpose was to provide recommendations for future out-of-class communication scholarship.