What are your hopes as NUS president?

There are so many! But two issues are really at the top of my agenda. First, we need wider understanding of the fact that a good education can transform individual learners and the society they live in, and that there are many equally valid ways to acquire one. Higher education (HE) isn’t always the gold standard: FE and vocational training suit some people and their aspirations better, and that should be more widely recognised. No one now thinks that a lack of opportunities in early life should preclude a candidate from attending university – I want people to realise that this is a two-way street. Being born with advantages and a family history of university attendance doesn’t mean that a person should blithely follow the same route to achieve their own potential.

And secondly, I hope we can really focus on the major issues of unemployment and under-employment. They are a blight that is bad for the individual and bad for the economy. I believe that the NUS, individual student unions, colleges and universities have an obligation to help create jobs, and to help businesses both to take on trainees and apprentices and to give them a real, living wage.

What role does technology have to play in the future of education?

The fact that teachers and students tend to be early adopters of new technology is great, because technology is bringing us so many opportunities to enrich education and also to democratise it. Good teachers are using technology to deliver courses in more creative, richer ways and students are using it to access more diverse resources and learn in ways that suit them best. Greater possibilities for collaboration are an obvious advantage and what’s really exciting is the way that developments such as MOOCs and open access are opening up educational opportunities for everyone.

The challenge for everyone who cares about education is to make sure that open access means exactly that – the danger comes when access to resources is restricted, for example if those who create them limit access in a bid to gain competitive advantage.

What do you feel is the best kind of blended learning?

The beauty of the technological and ideological advances we have seen over the past decade is that there is no ‘best kind’, except at the individual level.

We have to make sure that people can choose the system and the package that works for them and the daily lives they are leading. Online learning brings opportunities for more people to engage with their learning, but we can’t make the mistake of assuming that people in full-time work or single parents of young children are now ‘sorted’ because they can learn online. I want everyone to be supported to select the approach to learning that will give them the richest experience and the best outcome.

In your keynote at Open Educational Resources 2013 (OER13) you discussed the importance of students as producers. Can you tell us more?

I think that enabling students to get involved in the creation of resources, and to configure learning that engages them, is a hugely exciting development that can improve student experience exponentially. Students and teachers can collaborate not just within their own discipline or their own institution, but genuinely without boundaries of any kind. Wherever people are in the world, if they share your interest, they are now potentially a collaborator and that’s immensely powerful.

We all know that understanding student needs is the key to delivering a great student experience. What did you discover from the recent survey undertaken by the NUS (commissioned by the Higher Education Academy)?

The good thing that has come from seeing students as customers is that there is much more focus on understanding and improving the student experience than there ever used to be. One thing that comes over loud and clear from NUS research is that any fears that students will stop turning up to see their tutors are unfounded. Technology doesn’t replace contact time; students still really value that, whether it happens face to face or over the internet.

At OER13 you said that the day for student involvement in OERs had come. How can the NUS help students engage?

When we hear people talking about developments in OERs such as MOOCs, they often talk in terms of an ‘avalanche in education’ but I think we need a much more positive metaphor. Students have a clear choice: they can stand back and watch, or they can take a lead in shaping open access and the development of content so it meets their needs and the needs of those who will come along later.

Clearly the NUS feels that the second course of action serves students much better and so our role is going to be to connect with more students, training activists and campaigners to encourage them to get involved, and also to support students and their unions at local level to be as bold and inspired as possible.