The goal of this paper was to ascertain the perceived student attitudes and usage prevalence of both institutional and non-institutional digital technology used for academic purposes, along with the analysis of the ways the variables of gender, field of study and education level influence the above mentioned phenomena. This research was carried out on a sample of 209 students from various higher education institutions within the Republic of Croatia via an online questionnaire which was comprised of 6 parts: general data, prevalence scale of various types and forms of digital technology used by the institution, institutional digital technology scale of influence on student behaviour and attitudes toward learning, prevalence scale of non-institutional digital technology, digital technology and academic dishonesty scale and the tendency towards digitalization as a consequence of COVID-19 scale. According to the results, the most commonly used institutional technologies are PowerPoint, PDF based materials and course web repositories. Students prefer a combination of traditional and digital elements. Furthermore, they prefer tangible learning materials while simultaneously recognizing the value of online learning material availability. Independently of the institutions, students harness non-institutional technologies such as social networks and mobile communication applications with the goal of using them for positive (organization, source for news, cooperation, sharing of information) and negative (sharing of questions and answers from upcoming exams) academic purposes. As a result of COVID-19, students report a relatively high degree of institutional adaptation and shift toward digitalization, as well as a higher degree of reliance on social networks and mobile communication applications. The variable of gender has a significant influence on the usage of interactive and video technology, tendency toward traditional, analogue technologies and the usage prevalence of mobile phone capabilities. The variable of field of study has a significant influence on the usage prevalence of mobile phone capabilities and the degree of perceived success of the institutional adaptation to COVID-19 and personal reliance on social networks and mobile communication applications. The variable of education level has a significant influence on the usage of interactive and video technology, usage of digital technology in a way which is academically dishonest and the degree of perceived success of the institutional adaptation to COVID-19 and personal reliance on social networks and mobile communication applications.