A mobile course rescheduling system with WeChat in Jiangsu Open University

Shen Jun
Jiangsu Open University
Nanjing, China

In open institutions, the academic affairs work is currently carried out through an educational administration system based on the interface of computers. This leads to operations such as adjusting a class schedule being operated completely on a PC-based system. For example, in the procedure for applying for course rescheduling in Jiangsu Open University, the following operations need to be executed in a PC:

To simplify such a complicated and time-consuming operational process, this article aims to design a system based on the open interfaces of the chat app in mobile phones. Rather than merely surfing through the phone's Web, this system automatically receives messages from users and communicates with the computer terminal to finish the operation, so that users only need to complete the course rescheduling by chatting in the chat app of their mobile phones; and they receive instant feedback from the computer terminal. This system's design is based on the WeChat Public Platform, which was launched by Tencent in August 2012, and it enables specific groups of people to receive instant messages, including text, voice and pictures through a mobile phone, and interact individually with the computer terminal. The most important characteristic of this platform (which handles the shortcomings of the current educational administrative system) is that it can support instant communication between mobile phones and the computer. With this 'mobile educational administration system,' teachers are allowed to send specific text content to the platform, such as the 'adjusted class schedule,' and then receive an instant reply on systematic operation instructions for carrying on the application. Once the application command is input into the platform, a message is sent as a reminder to the administrative people who take charge of the application approval process, and then the administrative staff will deal with approval through the mobile educational administration system by the communication interface between the WeChat app and the computer terminal. Consequently, the approval result is sent directly to teachers' phones in a WeChat message. Cross-platform technology (from the computer terminal to the mobile phone) will be introduced, which makes academic affairs more effective — applying and tracking the applications has no time or location limitations. Further research will focus on how to use the mobile system as a supplement to help teachers and administrative staff to improve work efficiency.