The COVID-19 pandemic significantly disrupted traditional face-to-face teaching worldwide and forced education institutions to adopt new, online teaching formats to enable students to continue with their studies. This research focuses on students’ perceptions of three teaching different modalities: face-to-face (F2F), Emergency Remote Teaching (ERT) and Smart Classroom (SC), which were implemented in response to the restrictions enforced to combat the spread of COVID-19. A qualitative study based on two user experience techniques, Pocket Bipolar Laddering and Emotional Appraisal, was carried out on a group of second-year ICT engineering university students at La Salle Campus Barcelona. The former technique consists in identifying a maximum of three positive and three negative salient items, while the latter is intended to rate pairs of opposite feelings. In the SC format, saving time on travel to university was considered an advantage of online learning, while disadvantages included less effective instructor–student interaction, distractions when off-campus and teamwork issues. These shortcomings can be addressed by specific online teaching training to develop a more active form of learning and foment student participation. However, both ERT and SC modalities were considered effective solutions to cope with the social and mobility restrictions imposed during the pandemic.

Qualitative research activities, including first-day of class surveys and user experience interviews on completion of a subject were carried out to obtain students’ feedback in order to improve the design of the subject ‘Information Systems’ as a part of a general initiative to enhance ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) engineering programs. Due to the COVID-19 (corona virus disease 2019) pandemic, La Salle URL adopted an Emergency Remote Teaching tactical solution in the second semester of the 2019–2020 academic year, just before implementing a strategic learning approach based on a new Smart Classroom (SC) system deployed in the campus facilities. The latter solution was developed to ensure that both on-campus and off-campus students could effectively follow the course syllabus through the use of new technological devices introduced in classrooms and laboratories, reducing the inherent difficulties of online learning. The results of our findings show: (1) No major concerns about the subject were identified by students; (2) Interaction and class dynamics were the main issues identified by students, while saving time on commuting when learning from home and access to recorded class sessions were the aspects that students considered the most advantageous about the SC.

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The expectations, attitudes, engagement, and motivation of students are key elements when designing learning activities. Several studies have been implemented and different strategies and activities have been analyzed to improve the aforesaid aspects of learning content. In the context of the New Learning Context (NLC), this paper presents the findings of two first day of class activities aimed at engaging engineering students in a business and management subject from the very first moment: an empirical study conducted by means of a survey answered by engineering students in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), followed by an interactive activity between students and instructors carried out through a reciprocal interview activity. The survey was performed with the objective of identifying what they ‘liked’ and ‘disliked’ on their first day of class of a business subject. The findings are presented and compared with previous studies and have proven to be mostly consistent with previous academic work. Finally, a reciprocal interview activity was chosen to potentially enhance the students’ engagement and motivation. According to the feedback received, this activity was positively valued by the students.

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This research examines the form in which undergraduates use video cameras during videoconferencing class sessions in a Smart Classroom context and, more specifically, the reasons why a considerable number of students opt to turn off their cameras when videoconferencing during the sessions while others keep them on. The study was carried out in an institution that had previously switched from face-to-face teaching to an Emergency Remote Teaching solution, initially adopted in 2019–2020 to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions. Findings suggest that using cameras when videoconferencing is associated with increasing and enhancing the interaction between the student and the rest of the class, although not all students agreed with this conclusion. In addition, having the video cameras switched fomented socialization and improved the overall online learning experience for students. However, the surveyed students pointed out diverse negative elements, such as why they had to turn on their personal cameras, privacy concerns, and limitations derived from the available technology infrastructure, in addition to other factors such as distractions, anxiety, and cognitive load. This work discusses how these elements can influence the well-being and the user experience of the students, both positively and negatively.

This study analyzes students’ thoughts and reflections on an activity carried out during the first day of class of management subjects which are part of technological programs. The purpose of the activity was to promote student interaction during the first session of class of these subjects, with the aim to positively influence the class climate and the students’ wellbeing. A reciprocal interview activity between the students and the team of instructors was conducted in the first session of the subjects, instead of a standard ‘one direction’ presentation of the syllabus by the instructor. Once the activities were completed, students were asked to answer a survey about the activity through qualitative and quantitative questions with a twofold research aim: (1) to analyze the effects of the activity on the students; (2) to gather feedback from the students to improve future editions of the activity. The results obtained showed a clear preference for this type of interactive technique, as opposed to the more classical approach to the first session of a subject.

Some studies have examined ticket sales in the context of a sporting event. However, only a few have investigated the determinants of ticket prices, and, to date, none have done so in the context of a multidisciplinary sports mega-event. This study examines this complex paradigm through the case of the World Swimming Championships held in Barcelona, Spain. The particular focus of this study was whether, in such a framework, the same model of analysis of price determinants could be applied equally to all the disciplines that comprise the sporting mega-event. The applied model was significant, explaining the ranges of variation of the ticket prices in the different sport disciplines. The main hypothesis was rejected, which suggests that when examining price determinants in multidisciplinary sport mega-events, it will be convenient to implement a different model for each sporting discipline (aquatic, in the case at hand). These results can help professionals better understand consumer fluctuations throughout the ticket sales process in such an environment, in order to appropriately price tickets. This, in turn, will lead to maximizing revenue, as well as attendance, at sporting events.