Abstract:

Central purpose of this study:
This work aims at analyzing the impact of digital attitude and hyperculture on the undergraduate student's performance.

Theoretical Framework:
The literature review addressed themes such as learning and academic performance, digital culture and hyperculture and the use of technology for learning purposes. The educational process is faced with the emergence of new technologies that are incorporated into the daily life, which lead to new ways of thinking and living together, change existing patterns and bring new challenges to its effectiveness (ARAUJO, 2013; IMBERNÓN, 2010). In the learning process, academic performance may be influenced by factors such as the level of digital culture and hyperculture of students. In the convergence culture, a greater dissemination of information is present and access to information and technology keeps on growing. From the cognition perspective, it is believed that the individuals with greater contact with the hyper cultural environment have greater capacity to assimilate, think and act. Digital culture is present in the academic environment, the use of digital technologies cannot be denied. When it comes to digital technologies, they are expected to extend human perception, increase senses such as vision and hearing, expand human cognition and interfere in a new mental model. Space, timing and workings of how to teach and learn change. Co-creation becomes a concrete possibility, reframing the role of the teacher as a mediator of information with enough experience to create a bridge that allows students to take ownership of content. Each student has different cognitive levels. In this process of appropriation of information by the individual to generate new knowledge in the classroom education, it is important to reflect on the impact of hyperculture and digital culture on the performance of the student.

Search Method:
Based on a quantitative approach, this multiple case study, was conducted with 311 undergraduate students of three higher education institutions located in the northeast of Brazil. To collect data a self-administered questionnaire was used (closed and open questions). Two indexes were created, one for Digital attitude and one for hyperculture and their correlations to academic performance were established. Data analysis performed used SPSS software.

Results, conclusions and implications for the area:
No positive nor negative correlation between academic performance, as a hole, and the indexes of attitude and digital hyperculture were found. However when it comes to academic performance constituents and its correlation to hyperculture and digital attitude, both the institution of origin and the type of course seem to correlate to the indexes, which deserves further investigation in subsequent studies. With regard to the comparison of institutions to each other it is interesting to note that all had at least one statistically significant influence component, digital attitude had greater impact on private educational institutions while hyperculture was more influential in the public and federal institutions. Therefore, academic performance is influenced by hyperculture and digital attitude, and this influence deserves further investigation.

Keywords:

Digital culture, Hyperculture, Academic performance.