Psychological aspects of effective Internet use in educational purposes

The aim of the research was to find factors that allow students effectively use Internet. Study consisted of two parts. Questionnaires were filled by 159 1-3 year undergraduate students of NB SU-HSE. Interview was carried out with 7 undergraduate students of NB SU-HSE and 7 IT specialists. Questionnaire had three parts: purpose of Internet use; motivation of Internet use (based on inventory by Arestova, Babanin and Voyskunsky); psycholog ical states in the process of using Internet (based on the inventory FPS by Chirkov). Three hypotheses were test ed in the study. Hypothesis 1 was confirmed: students' leading motive while using Internet is a cognitive motive and the main goal - search for information. Hypothesis 2 was confirmed by cluster analysis: students experience dysfunctional states while using Internet. Hypothesis 3 was not confirmed: there are no differences in students' and IT specialists' search strategies.