WeChat for Chinese Online Students
Found in: Online Learning, Teaching Online Lessons, Technology
Heidi M., Canada
A number of my students are from Chinese families who are used to using WeChat for online contact and video calls. One of them helped me set up a WeChat account yesterday and I will teach through WeChat tomorrow. I am quite excited and it makes it easier for the Chinese background families to accept the idea of doing online lessons 🙂
most Chinese people are very strong creatures of habit. (that was not meant in a racist way. I have great respect and admiration for them and my best friends are Chinese) It is hard for them sometimes to try a new idea. They have expressed more resistance to online lessons than other students. Using WeChat has made the idea of online lessons easier to accept. Most of them have no accounts on Skype or facetime or zoom, atleast not here.
Leeanne I., Australia
I think we still have the issue of Chinese residents not being able to view the SHM videos? Can someone clarify this?
Heidi M., Canada
In their own country there is a block to be able to view the streamed videos in the student account or any of the videos on the SM website . At least according to what a couple of my Chinese friends in different big cities told me.
Ian M., Indiana
I looked at their website and saw that you only have the option of downloading for your phone. I was going to ask here whether that was really the case, but then I realized “hey, I’m sitting at home with nothing to do, I’ll look it up!” I found out from Wikipedia that a web-based app exists, but:
Although Web-based OS X[88] and Windows[89] clients exist, this requires the user to have the app installed on a supported mobile phone for authentication, and neither message roaming nor ‘Moments’ are provided.[90] Thus, without the app on a supported phone, it is not possible to use the web-based WeChat clients on the computer.
Heidi M., Canada
that would explain why I cannot use WeChat on my windows laptop, (I have nothing but text/talk on my phone, no data, no special apps) but why I *can* use it on my iPad. On my iPad, I do not even have to enter any QR Scan Code, it is so easy to access. Just my username and password.
Original discussion started March 20, 2020