ABSTRACT This meta-analysis compared the educational impact of the method of notetaking in the college classroom – hand written or using electronic device. The findings involved 14 studies combining 3,075 participants demonstrated that using electronic notetaking methods reduced measured outcomes (average r = −.142). Using the Binomial Effect Size Display, results indicated a decline of 25% of students scoring below the mean when electronic devices when compared to using handwritten notetaking. The study considers explanations for the decline and makes recommendations about the use of technology for notetaking in the classroom as well as paths for practical and pedagogical implications.

This chapter focuses on influence of presenter's level of anxiety about communication on the perceptions of competence and effectiveness by message receivers. The first part of the chapter outlines the impact such anxiety about communication by the communicator generates in the perceptions of message receivers. The next part of the chapter focuses on the techniques used to diminish the level of anxiety felt by the communicator. The final part of the chapter considers the impact of such anxiety about social interaction as it may impact on the development of anti-social (criminal) sexual behaviors. The last part of the chapter is intended as a exemplar of one impact that anxiety about communication and the corresponding impact on lack of competence may contribute to a variety of social problems. Other persons have written about how the relationship of communication anxiety to low levels of communication competence contribute to a number of important social interactions (medical treatment, HIV risk behavior, employment, etc.,) (Allen, Emmers-Sommer, and Crowell 2002; Ayres, Ayres, and Sharp 1993; Richmond, Heisel, Smith, and McCroskey 1998).Many people when communicating face the challenge of overcoming the level of anxiety or fear felt about interacting or speaking with other persons. Often, the level of anxiety felt about public speaking is one of the top fears or phobias experienced by individuals, 25 % of all individuals experience a high degree of terror involving public speaking (Sharp 1992). One of the reasons that so much research exists on this issue becomes reflected in the ease a researcher can find significant numbers of persons afflicted with this fear. The history of the research on issues related to communication anxiety represent one of the oldest in the quantitative social sciences (Dow 1937; Knower 1937). Any experienced instructor teaching fundamental communication skills will attest to the negative consequences on competent communication that anxiety produces (Ayres and Hopf 1993). The diminished view of the competence of the communicator by the message receivers and the undermining of the effectiveness of the message comprise one of the immediate outcomes (Allen 1989; Allen and Bourhis 1996).

A meta‐analysis examined eleven studies examining the relationship between social skills (communication competence) and whether the person was a sexual offender (rapist, molester, incest offender, pedophile, exhibitionist). After the removal of one study due to methodological reasons, the remaining ten studies provide a homogeneous set of effects demonstrating that sexual offenders possess fewer social skills than nonoffenders (r = .334). Results of the meta‐analysis offer insight into the role communication skills plays in understanding the nature of sexual offenders.

This article uses meta-analysis to summarize the quantitative literature comparing the performance of students in distance education versus traditional classes. The average effect (average r=.048, k=39, N=71,731) demonstrates that distance education course students slightly outperformed traditional students on exams and course grades. The average effect was heterogeneous, and the examination of several moderating features (presence or absence of simultaneous interaction, type of channel used in distance education, and course substance) failed to produce a homogeneous solution. The results demonstrate, however, no clear decline in educational effectiveness when using distance education technology.

Meta-analysis provides a method of quantitatively summarizing and comparing empirical literature to reduce Type I and Type II error. The meta-analysis described here indicates a slight student preference for a traditional educational format over a distance education format (average r = .031, after the deletion of outliers), and little difference in satisfaction levels. A comparison of distance education methods that include direct interactive links with those that do not include interactive links demonstrates no difference in satisfaction levels. However, student satisfaction levels diminish as additional information is added to the available channel of instruction (e.g., written to audio to video). The findings support those of researchers arguing that distance education does not diminish the level of student satisfaction when compared to traditional face-to-face methods of instruction.

This article summarizes published experimental studies dealing with the use of video taping to provide feedback to students in public speaking courses. Meta‐analytic procedures were used to summarize twelve published studies. Results of the analysis indicate that the use of videotaping to provide feedback to students in public speaking courses results in better content of student speeches, greater acquisition of public speaking skills, better performance on objective tests, and more positive attitudes toward the course in public speaking. In addition to these positive effects, no statistically significant increase in anxiety is experienced by students when video technology is utilized in the classroom to provide feedback to students in public speaking courses.

A meta‐analysis was used to summarize the existing research on methods of reducing heterosexual dating anxiety. Twenty studies were identified as relevant for this analysis. The average positive effect (r = .336) demonstrates that intervention techniques successfully reduce dating anxiety and increase the dating behavior of the participants. The implications of this finding for issues surrounding the link between communication competence and sexual coercion/date rape are discussed.

This meta‐analytic review examines the connection between communication apprehension (CA) and communication behaviors. The results indicate a consistent negative relationship between the level of communication apprehension and communication skills (r = ‐.220) using a total of 36 studies involving 3742 participants. This relationship indicates that as a person becomes more apprehensive both the quantity and quality of communication behavior diminishes. Subgroup analysis indicated that the relationship was largest for ratings of the quality of communication (r = ‐.383), next largest for the quantity of communication (r = ‐.284), next largest for the impact on graded classroom communication (r = ‐.146), and smallest for nonverbal indicators (r = ‐.057). The results point to the ability of self‐report communication instruments to correlate with communication behavior.

Although numerous studies have examined the relationship between communication apprehension (CA) and cognitive performance (e.g., IQ grade point averages, course grades, assignment grades, and test scores), the findings are equivocal. One area of findings suggests that students in the traditional educational environment experiencing high CA are at a distinct disadvantage when compared to their low or moderate counterparts. A second area of findings suggests that no significant relationship exists. A third area indicates that the nature of the instructional environment is a significant mediating variable that moderates the effects of CA on cognitive performance. In the present study, a meta-analysis was conducted of 23 manuscripts containing information on 30 experiments that examined CA and cognitive performance. Results confirmed a statistically significant negative correlation between CA and cognitive performance. Implications for future research and classroom instruction are discussed.