A. Sharing large files between the US and China (e.g., video files).

Due to the Great Firewall associated with internet connections between the USA and China, sharing information with folks in China from the US can be a bit difficult. Sharing relatively large files can be particularly difficult. The best system I have found is to create a qq account in English. Make sure to sign up for mail. I suggest doing this on both your computer and your device. Once you have this account created, students can email you large files. And you can store them within the online qq environment in something called FileHub. It is pretty convenient once you get all the details regarding registration squared away.

B. Create a WeChat group for your class.

You will not have access to many of the communication-based software that you might be used to when you teach students in China. Email is generally not used – and there is nothing comparable to BlackBoard. And you will not have access to your standard cloud software packages (e.g., Google Drive; Microsoft OneDrive, etc.).

For communicating, WeChat is the preferred platform. And, once you get used to it, you will find that it is both versatile and powerful. qq works too and I recommend that you get BOTH WeChat and qq accounts.

As you will not have a BlackBoard site for your class, you should ask a student (perhaps a student assistant) to create a WeChat group for your class. You will be able to easily communicate and share information with your full class using this group.

C. Try to get a WeChat account on your laptop.

WeChat puts a moratorium on creating a laptop/web-based account for relatively new users. So you should sign up for WeChat ASAP to try to be able to use WeChat on your laptop. You will be able to do more things for your class if you have WeChat on your laptop.