Analysis and application of social software in online interactive teaching

Xuan Zhang
Jiangsu Open University
Nanjing, China

While QQ and microblogs are in the ascendant, the meteoric rise of Wechat has provided another new powerful tool for online interactive teaching. With the popularity of WiFi and intelligent mobile phones, social software has been widely applied in various fields by means of the superior transmission mode of node-to-node and node-to-surface. In this situation, some online education and training institutions have also started to open a Wechat public account for teaching. However, the use of social software in online interactive teaching is still at an initial stage of exploration, and needs further study on how to put its functions into full and proper use in the teaching process.

This study employs an action research method to try out a variety of complementary and interactive designs of online teaching, with in-depth exploration of the functions of a mobile teaching service, and establishes multi-dimension channels for effective communication between teachers and students, and between students and students — thus strengthening the emotional support and improving the quality of teaching. It was found, at the same time, that Wechat, QQ, microblogs and other social media tools play a very important role in assisting and supporting online interactive teaching to a different extent. As Wechat and QQ are homologous, QQ is widely popular and is applied in China’s inland regions. Wechat and QQ have more advantageous application functions of mobile phones, which could lead learners to accept its teaching service relatively easier, but the application of other social networking tools can also be included in their learning.