University teachers - help with interview question please?

[Iloveautumn]

I have an interview soon for a teaching only job and I know one of the questions will be about "the current issues facing higher education teaching"

Any thoughts? I have been out of the loop for so long on two lots of mat leave that I could do with some help please!

Thanks in advance!

Hi, not sure if you've had your interview yet but heres some ideas to look at:
I recently did a course on HE teaching & learning and learning and one of the 'big' themes is student-centred learning - how students are now paying for themselves and are effectively a 'consumer'
Also the student population is now very diverse (widening participation) - this is a question I got asked on a recent interview, how to cope with this in teaching.

I would suggest reading the THES website.

Issues that I can think of related to teaching would be open or distance learning; the use of new media in teaching; as IslandIsla says above - diversity in the seminar room, and the thorny question of class size.

While you have stated that the job is teaching-only, they might also expect you to hold some sort of view on the incorporation of research into teaching as well. To be frank, if they can get hold of someone who might also do some research, I think they would be interested,.

Good luck!

You might also want to think about the use of 'virtual learning environments' which seem to becoming the norm.

On the student-centred learning side, look up Peter Mandelson's speech of a few weeks ago where he said that universities would have to pull their socks up and make teaching much more student-led.

Good luck with the interview.

Thank you everyone for your help. The interview is end of Jan so I have time to follow up your ideas!!