Economic education and internet : teachers' opinions and practices

The use of the Internet is particularly well suited to the teaching and learning of economics, not only because many of the phenomena that are studied by economics are well documented on the Web but also because the interaction concerning models, graphics and programs clearly pays results. Economics can therefore benefit immensely from the use of the new technologies, possessing some characteristics that allow further uses of the Internet besides those, which are also worth exploring by other disciplines. Post secondary education sharply increased the Internet adoption last years for educational, research and administrative goals, affecting pedagogical processes, educational institutions policies. Because of the higher availability of material recourses and human skills, the Internet adoption by the universities and colleges was faster than by other educational levels. The usage of the Internet on face-to-face university education depends on material resources (for example computer hardware and software availability, Web applications, Internet access connection, library and teaching on line resources, classrooms with multimedia equipment) human skills (learners and teacher Internet literacy and some technological aptitudes), institutional support, teaching subject and teachers and students behavior attitudes in relation to Internet enhanced or based education. The present research pretends to contribute for a better knowledge of the use of the Internet in the teaching of the economics at the oldest University of Economics in Portugal analyzing teacher opinions and practices and comparing economics and management with other teaching domains. The possible educational contributions of the paper are: (i) The selection of only one University on the study allows, at least partially, controlling for differences in institutional and material aspects (for example similar Internet access and Internet connection status). (ii) the research is done/ carried on in a non-English speaking context, usually studies are on countries where English, the lingua franca of the Internet, is the first language (iii) the results allow the combination of data about uses with data about opinions, both aspects usually studied in separate. The paper has the following structure: after introduction, the theoretical background is presented. Next, the data base and methodology adopted are explained. After, the empirical results are listed and finally conclusions and future avenues of research area presented