What is the connection between aesthetics or classroom design and engagement towards courses, teachers and groups? Students spend at least one quarter of their waking hours in schools, most of it in classrooms, which have become a potentially powerful setting for influencing them. Especially in recent years, where marketing classes are often projectbased and students are required to regularly interact in class and participate in group assignments, the role of classrooms and their design is crucial for improving learning and engagement (e.g. Abernethy and Lett III, 2005; Razzouk, Seitz and Rizkallah, 2003). Education research over the past decade has demonstrated that classroom designs have an effect on learning behaviors. Ample evidence suggested that classroom layout, technology and overall design can have a profound effect on student learning (e.g. Cheryan, Ziegler, Plaut and Meltzoff, 2014; Neill and Etheridge, 2008). So far, literature on classroom design and teaching has mainly focused on the relationship between quality of physical infrastructure and student achievement (Cheryan et al., 2014), on flexible learning spaces (Neill and Etheridge, 2008) and on the use of interactive technology (i.e. student response systems or clickers) for improving satisfaction, creative interaction, and achievement (e.g. Eastman, Iyer and Eastman, 2011). Little research has examined the role of classroom design on engagement (Kuh, 2001; Marks, 2000), investigating it primarily in the online or distance learning contexts (Chen, Lambert and Guidry, 2009). Unexplored in previous research is the role that a high vs. low technological classroom design may play in students’ engagement, and more specifically, in the general engagement level experienced by students towards a course, a teacher and a group. This work includes a comparison of two courses taught by the same instructor in a lowtechnology space (traditional class) versus a high-technology space, demonstrating counterintuitively that students perceive a higher engagement in a traditional classroom setting, evaluate the teacher more positively, and like to work in groups more.

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the classroom discussion engagement experiences, the challenges faced and strategies for their solution, of eight international Indonesian masters students in one public university in the United Kingdom through a demographic questionnaire and semi-structured interviews. The results indicated that the participants faced some speaking challenges in engaging in discussion, including (1) language barriers, (2) individual matters, and (3) academic culture differences. To cope with those challenges, the participants have undertaken strategies, such as (1) having the verbal response, (2) utilising learning sources, and (3) maintaining a positive motivation.