Community Engaged Learning and Teaching is considered to be transformative for students and practitioners, underpinned by civic participation in community and society. One of the strategic themes of the UCD Rising to the Future Strategy is “Building a Healthy World” a core objective of which is to “continue to build our engagement locally, nationally and internationally”. Community Engaged Learning (CEL) and Teaching affords the University an opportunity to build and strengthen strong partnerships with social and community organisations in a meaningful and transformative way. It provides faculty, students and community organisations opportunities to engage in a symbiotic manner, learning from each other whilst bridging the gap between academic learning and the lived reality(ies) of society.
L2L: Librarians Learning to Support Learners Learning
About this initiative
L2L began as a collaboration between staff in three Libraries: Dundalk Institute of Technology, Institute of Technology, Carlow and Dublin Institute of Technology. Using the National Professional Development Framework, library staff explored and reflected on their professional development from multiple perspectives, including their evolving roles as library professionals, their professional identities, the relationship between their professional development approaches and the experiences of students, and ensuring the value of library services. An intention of this project was gain formal accreditation to recognise the work of library staff who teach and provide the validation and recognition of the invaluable role library staff play as educators. The project resulted in the development of a website for library staff who teach and a book which shares stories of the professional development journeys of librarians who teach.




