Bridging sports and academics: user perception of an e-learning platform in the edusport project

Introduction: The dual career initiative aims to harmonize sports and academic life, enabling athletes to obtain a quality university education without compromising their athletic performance. As part of the EduSport Project, an e-learning platform based on Moodle has been developed to enhance interaction between student-athletes, sport tutors, and coaches, incorporating virtual advisors to improve communication and learning. Objective: This study aims to analyze the perceptions of users (i.e., athletes, coaches, and sport tutors) regarding the e-learning platform developed within the EduSport Project. Methodology: A total of 45 participants completed a questionnaire assessing the user-friendliness and utility of the platform. Results: The overall user perception of the platform was highly positive, regardless of their role. Specifically, athletes rated the platform with the highest score (5 points on a 1–5 scale) for all questionnaire items: user-friendliness (90%), attractiveness (80%), clarity of instructions (83.3%), utility (90%), encouragement (83.3%), and overall satisfaction (90%). Similarly, all coaches (100%) assigned a score of 5 to user-friendliness, clarity of instructions, and overall satisfaction, while 90% rated attractiveness, utility, and encouragement with the maximum score. Lastly, all sport tutors (100%) gave a score of 5 to every item in the questionnaire. Regarding item 6, all participants, regardless of their role, preferred the digital system over the traditional system. Discussion/Conclusions: The findings demonstrate that users perceive the EduSport Project’s e-learning platform very positively, with consistent ratings of 5 on a 1–5 scale across all roles. Participants highly valued its user-friendliness, attractiveness, clarity of instructions, utility, and encouragement.