Effects Of Wechat On The Ideologicaland Political Education Of University Studentsand The Countermeasures

It has come into the "Fragmentation" times due to the rapid development ofmobile internet and the widely spread of emerging media technology. Wechat, atypical represent of new media, is considered to have profound effects onuniversity students in terms of lifestyle, study behavior and mental state. As aresult, Wechat is regarded as "The Biggest Variable" faced by the contemporaryideological and political education in universities. However, the universitywhich is one of the most crucial parts for ideology education has to adapt to the"The New Normal" of the information age. It is urgent to apply Wechat to theinnovation of ideological and political education in order to improve themodernity and practicalness.In this essay, the functions and the features of the carrier of ideological andpolitical education are compared with those of Wechat. Wechat is consequentlyselected as a new type of carrier, which not only enriches the theory ofideological and political education carrier but also provides a new perspective for the innovation of contemporary ideological and political education research.A method which combines empirical and normative research is applied toanalyze the effects of Wechat on contemporary ideological and politicaleducation. There are two opposite effects. On the one hand, Wechat provides anew fashion platform for the ideological and political education resulted in theenhancement of the interaction between educators and students and meeting theyoung students’ need of information, entertainment and communication and soon. By contrast, on the other hand, Wechat also put some certain challenges forstudents, teachers and the environment of ideological and political education inuniversities.Then, some solutions are proposed to the better utilization of Wechat todevelop and innovate the ideological and political education in universities.There are three models in the research: media literacy education system,political education "ecosystem", and monitor and management system. The firstone, media literacy education system, mainly focuses on helping students todevelop their abilities of sense of identify and cognition for media informationand to sharp their competences in self-improvements. The second model aims atthe formation of a unique "eco-system" for the ideological and politicaleducation to achieve the pertinence and efficiency, which should be promotedthrough three aspects: the educators, the carrier effect and the use-pattern ofWechat. The third model needs joint efforts of the government, universities andthe operators of Wechat to provide institutional guarantee. The function of Wechat carrier is efficiently accomplished through theabove three models. Consequently, Wechat has given an opportunity tostrengthen the pertinence and efficiency of the ideological and politicaleducation and it has taken a lead position in the innovation processes of theideological and political education.