MOTIVATIONS FOR HIGHER EDUCATION STUDENTS' USE OF DIGITAL MEDIA IN CLASSROOM CONTEXT

The universal and free access to the Internet that students have today in Higher Education ( HE) Institutions, together with the possession of devices that facilitate that access, is causing, nowadays, some difficulties in controlling students' access to the Internet in class time. To better understand the activities and motivations associated to digital media use in HE classrooms, participatory observations were carried out within the classrooms of three groups of students from the Communication Sciences and Technologies scientific area. Individual interviews with some of the students and their teachers were also conducted. The results show that students are closely involved with social and digital media inside and outside the classroom. When they are in the classroom, they still feel the need to answer to SMS and instant messages that they receive, to have permanent connection to the Internet or to share contents. This study also reveals that many students connect to digital media with the aim of being entertained because they are bored with the subjects of the classes. However, there are also some students that use digital media as a support to the learning process that takes place in the classroom. This research also reveals the perceptions of the students and their teachers about this kind of digital media dependency as well as some solutions to mitigate it. Drawing on the data, it is possible to know in more depth the behaviour of HE students regarding the use of digital media in the classroom and, thus, to contribute to the debate around education for the use of digital media.