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Q: Did any of you have a student or parent ask you to add him or her on WeChat?
Is there such a rule that foreign teachers cannot give the students or parents their WeChat at private insititutes or universities in China? If so, why is there such a rule?
2 weeks 5 days ago in Teaching & Learning - China
I would set up a WeChat group for students only, and for class-room related messages only.
NOT your personal WeChat number.
Don;t allow parents to be part of this group - they will abuse this as soon as they can.
you don't want parents / students contacting you at all times, and asking you for extra 'help' - which from the parents could involve some 'bribes' to ensure their darling gets better treatment/marks - and could be open to allegations of abuse.
some Uni's have policies on this (and any interactions between students and teachers) you should ask yours. If your Uni does not have such a policy, ask them to write one up (in English) and sign it.
but manage such communication between you and your students (and their parents) in a controlled way, and don;t be afraid to disband the group if someone - anyone - oversteps the line into potential inappropriate behaviour that may be misinterpreted.
NO private messages to individual students.
and keep the online communication to a strictly formal footing - you never know who will be monitoring this.
Don;t give anyone any opportunity to abuse this - because someone will eventually.
imagine your grand-mother and mother can see all interactions in this group.
I would set up a WeChat group for students only, and for class-room related messages only.
NOT your personal WeChat number.
Don;t allow parents to be part of this group - they will abuse this as soon as they can.
you don't want parents / students contacting you at all times, and asking you for extra 'help' - which from the parents could involve some 'bribes' to ensure their darling gets better treatment/marks - and could be open to allegations of abuse.
some Uni's have policies on this (and any interactions between students and teachers) you should ask yours. If your Uni does not have such a policy, ask them to write one up (in English) and sign it.
but manage such communication between you and your students (and their parents) in a controlled way, and don;t be afraid to disband the group if someone - anyone - oversteps the line into potential inappropriate behaviour that may be misinterpreted.
NO private messages to individual students.
and keep the online communication to a strictly formal footing - you never know who will be monitoring this.
Don;t give anyone any opportunity to abuse this - because someone will eventually.
imagine your grand-mother and mother can see all interactions in this group.
I used to have kids add me to the QQ account, never to WeChat. This seemed to work well. All this changed when we began online classes during the virus outbreak and shutdown. QQ does not allow me to receive files for some reason. It also does not allow me to translate any longer. I am not sure why. So, this past year I have added students to my WeChat. So that they do not muddy my contacts list, all students are listed with in this manner... 16James19-20. The 16 is the class number as I have four classes with the kids. Of course their name. And the year I had them in class. This way, all class 16 is grouped together, not only by their class homeroom number, but also alphabetized by name. It works well. I have also found that once you add Chinese to your WeChat, you seldom hear from them, unless they are seeking something from you.
I give students an email address -- one that is rarely used. I don't give them my WeChat info (or respond to students or strangers who try to connect with me on WeChat). Anything I need to say to my students, (as a group) I say in class. If I ever had anything to say in private, I guess I'd say it after class or in my office -- but I don't ever have anything to say in private.
icnif77:
I don't have we-chat and I've never use it for classes while in China, but I was asked for my phone no. by the students.
I always told them, my Nokia brick is School's property and I have it only for the communication with the School's principal.
I can lie when pressed ...
Was using my email address with private students in China ... for HW.
You advice is spot on.