Online learning environments have been widely adopted, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. Today, their usage is envisioned for multiple teaching scenarios, including international courses involving students from different locations. However, as e-learning frameworks lack many advantages of physical interaction, diverse technologies to enhance the learning experience in this regard, including the use of metaverses, are currently in demand. In this study, we implemented an educational metaverse platform for engineering courses at four different European Universities from Poland, Portugal, Germany, and Spain, then had it quantitatively evaluated by students from these higher education institutions. The obtained results illustrate positive student perceptions of its ease of use, satisfaction and fun, and immersion, although their opinions with respect to learning experience and usefulness are less clear. The students seem to agree that interactivity remains insufficient in comparison with face-to-face teaching. For this reason, we provide an examination other related works and finalize this article by suggesting future research directions in the field.

The search for happiness, understood as an inner and personal attitude that goes beyond mere satisfaction, is one of the aims of tourists’ co-creation of value. To date, few studies have analysed the importance of people’s moral principles in the co-creation of tourist value. Moral emotions play an essential role in this process. In this study, 12 tourism managers within administration, 28 hotel managers and 24 travel agencies actively participated in defining the indicators selected to measure how the co-creation of value from five Spanish towns affected customers’ happiness. Moreover, 444 tourists participated in the study. The PLS-SEM technique was used to examine the data obtained. Results show that the co-creation of value contributes to the happiness of the tourist. Of particular significance is the influence of customers’ co-creation of value on customer happiness. Additionally, the predictive capacity of the model is replicable to other tourist destinations.

One of the main problems of the sudden digital transition to online education due to the COVID-19 pandemic is the increased isolation of students. On the other hand, one of the main goals of higher education is to develop students’ cooperative competence. This experimental study presents an online learning environment, consisting of a set of web-based resources such as virtual laboratories, interactive activities, educational videos and a game-based learning methodology. The study also examines the influence of the combination of such resources with active and collaborative learning on the improvement of students’ relationships and the development of cooperative competence. To this end, an analysis was conducted based on the data collected from a core subject of the Computer Engineering and Computer Science Engineering degree courses. The answers of an online survey (n = 289) were examined by using the structural equation modeling technique (SEM). The results suggest that the proposed learning environment has a significant and positive impact on the two dimensions of relational coordination; communication and relationships, and plays a key role in the acquisition and development of cooperative competence. Findings also indicate that effective, accurate, frequent and timely communication, positively influences on students’ relationships. Additionally, this study addresses other important issues with significant theoretical and practical implications for higher education.

This experimental study aims to examine students’ acceptance and attitude towards the use of game-based applications, as well as analyze how game-based learning impacts the acquisition and development of basic competences. To this end, online questionnaire responses from 135 undergraduate computer science students were analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM). The findings indicate that students perceive these tools as useful and easy to use, thus exerting a positive influence on learning motivation and behavior change towards the implementation of game-based learning. Furthermore, the crucial role of game-based learning strategies in the development of formative collaborative learning is emphasized, as well as their positive influence on the acquisition of essential soft skills for the comprehensive training of computer science students. These findings underscore the importance of considering the GBL approach as a valuable educational strategy to motivate and enhance learning and develop fundamental skills in students.

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to unprecedented shifts in higher education worldwide. These sudden educational changes have the potential to accelerate the acceptance of online learning, or, conversely, to increase its rejection. The purpose of this experimental study is to examine students’ acceptance of and intentions toward the continued use of online learning, which was abruptly introduced by face-to-face universities due to the COVID-19 pandemic. To this end, responses to an online questionnaire from students at three face-to-face universities ( N = 194) were analyzed using structural equation modeling. The study was based on the technology acceptance model (TAM), we also included other relevant factors, such as emotional aspects, feelings of uncertainty, security of the e-learning system, and satisfaction with educational technology. The results indicate that the uncertainty associated with COVID-19, emotional factors, and security did not significantly affect the students’ intention to use e-learning systems; however, these factors had a significant impact on students’ perception of satisfaction, which is a decisive factor that positively influences the process of adoption of e-learning systems. This study discusses noteworthy theoretical and practical implications for education that will help teachers and universities in decision making regarding the digital transformation process.