USES OF INTERNET AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN THE CATALAN UNIVERSITY SYSTEM

Jonatan Castaño Muñoz, Internet Interdisciplinary Institute (IN3), Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (Open University of Catalonia, UOC); Dr Josep Maria Duart Montoliu, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (Open University of Catalonia, UOC), Spain

Based on a social conception of technology, we can state that technology is adopted in different forms and for different purposes by users. The Internet in education is no exception, and different uses of this technology by students may lead to inequalities in academic performance. In some cases, these may be due to a continuation of “bad uses” that already existed before the student began to use the Internet, while in other cases these may be due to institutional obstacles to adapting the new forms of teaching to the new forms of learning.