The authors describe a collaborative study at two universities, one in Australia and the other in the UK. The main objectives of the study were to gain an understanding of the factors that influence a student's choice of location when using computing facilities, what applications they use, and how adequate various services and facilities provided…

There are two main ways in which the practical component of computer science and information systems courses, the computer laboratory class, may be organized. They may be closed laboratories, which are scheduled and staffed in the same way as other classes, or open laboratories where the students come and go as they please. In U.S. universities,…