Thesis advisor: Larry H. Ludlow / Interaction with faculty is one of the most important aspects of completing an undergraduate degree (Chambliss & Takacs, 2014). At traditional colleges and universities, much of this interaction takes place within the classroom. However, out-of-class communication (OCC) is also an important part of the college-going experience. Participation in OCC has been associated with many positive undergraduate outcomes, such as motivation (Komarraju et al., 2010) and course grades (Micari & Pazos, 2012). Prior measurement instruments related to OCC suffered from limitations with respect to construct definition and methodological procedures that limit the interpretability and utility of the scores they yield. My dissertation ameliorates these issues in constructing a new instrument that measures students’ perceptions of faculty availability outside of class. This instrument is built using Rasch/Guttman Scenario (RGS) scale methodology, which brings together the frameworks of Rasch measurement (Rasch, 1960/80) and Guttman facet theory design (Guttman, 1954; Guttman 1959). Two scales, each containing seven short scenarios that function as items, were constructed: the Physical Accessibility Scale (PAS) and the Social Engagement Scale (SES). Together, these two scales comprise the Out-of-Class Availability Scales (OCAS). Three facets of physical accessibility and social engagement are identified and represented within the items: arranged meetings, chance encounters, and email. The OCAS development process and analysis results presented within my dissertation suggest that the RGS methodology is useful for capturing students’ perceptions of faculty availability outside of class. The OCAS can also be used by others to conduct future research on the topic of OCC. Because they measure students’ perceptions of availability and not frequency of OCC, the OCAS have value as a potential faculty evaluation tool. Even if students choose not to interact with a particular faculty member outside of class, they would still ideally find that faculty member available for such interaction should the need arise. Finally, the RGS scale development process ensures that OCAS scores are accompanied by qualitative descriptions, which enhances their utility and measurement value. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2020. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Research, Measurement and Evaluation.

This study investigates a possible link between a students’ willingness to engage in out of class communication (OCC) with an instructor and the level of mediated immediacy that the instructor presents through his/her online presence. The hypotheses were that students viewing a Facebook page would be more willing to engage in OCC than those viewing an institutional web page with low levels of mediated immediacy and that students viewing a Facebook page would also be more willing to engage in OCC with their instructor for relationship focused reasons than those who viewed an institutional web page. While both hypotheses were found to be false, this study uncovered a correlation which suggests that the institutional web page creates a higher willingness to engage in OCC for task-focused reasons than a Facebook page and invites further research into the topic.

This study explored how course instructional format (i.e., online, face-to-face, or hybrid) is related to the frequency and duration of out-of-class communication (OCC) between college instructors and students, to student motives for communicating with teachers, and to perceived teacher approachability for conversation outside of class. Though differences in frequency of and student motives for engaging in OCC were not significant, students enrolled in face-to-face courses reported significantly more ongoing/durative OCC with their instructors compared to students enrolled other course types (i.e., online or hybrid). Students in fully online courses reported instructors to seem less receptive to but also less discouraging of OCC than students in face-to-face or hybrid courses. Overall, this study offers a sense of how students who seek informal interaction with instructors beyond the classroom are faring amid the increased reliance on web-based learning environments in higher education.