A Model of the Relationship between University Computer Laboratory Environment and Student Outcomes

This study focused on the use of computer laboratory classes in university courses. Two previously developed instruments, the Computer Laboratory Environment Inventory (CLEI) and the Attitude towards Computing and Computing Courses (ACCC), were used. The CLEI has five scales measuring students' perceptions of aspects of their laboratory environment: Student Cohesiveness, Open-Endedness, Integration, Technology Adequacy, and Laboratory Availability. The ACCC has four scales, namely, Anxiety, Enjoyment, Usefulness of Computers, and Usefulness of the Course. These instruments were administered to a sample of 208 students taking computing courses within the Business School at Curtin University of Technology in Western Australia. The sample covered specialist programming courses as well as courses in which the students use software tools such as spreadsheets. The results showed that there were statistically significant associations between achievement and the attitudinal variables of Anxiety, Enjoyment and Usefulness of the Course. Regression analysis supported the findings that the learning environment variables made a significant contribution to the variance in attitudinal variables, and these in turn made a significant contribution to achievement variance. A two-level model was proposed and analysed using Structural Equation Modelling. This supported the hypothesis that the computer laboratory environment affects achievement indirectly by directly affecting students' attitudes.