Challenges and Countermeasures for Ideological and Political Education of College Students in the Context of the Short Video Trend

With the rapid development of the internet and the widespread adoption of mobile smart devices, short-video platforms have gained immense popularity among college students due to their brevity, visual appeal, and immersive nature. However, this phenomenon poses significant challenges to the systematic, authoritative, serious, and relatable nature of ideological and political education. This study analyzes the deep coupling relationship between short videos and ideological and political education for college students from multiple dimensions, including the alignment of media characteristics with educational approaches, the contest for discourse space and ideological ground, the internalization of online behavior and value recognition, and the transformation of knowledge sources and educational evaluation. It systematically elaborates on the challenges posed by short videos to ideological and political education, including undermining its systematic nature, weakening its educational guidance, eroding the authenticity of information, dissolving the seriousness of education, and diluting students’ willpower. On this basis, the study proposes systematic countermeasures across four dimensions: content supply reform, technological algorithm empowerment, discourse expression innovation, and subject competency enhancement. These aim to establish a comprehensive ideological and political education framework characterized by multi-stakeholder participation, balanced emphasis on content and form, and integrated online-offline engagement. The objective is to transform short videos’ dissemination and influence into guiding and shaping power for ideological and political education, thereby enhancing its effectiveness among college students.