Teaching and Learning Department

Values and Guiding Principles

The Teaching and Learning (TAL) Department within the University Library is a team of faculty who aim to disturb the binary of teacher-student by demonstrating a level of care and non-judgment that supports students’ development into scholars and critical thinkers. We value:

• A care-based, relational approach to supporting students’ research and creative work in an environment that is outside of a grading construct 
• Meeting students’ needs with an equity lens
• Demystifying academia
• Validating students’ background, knowledge, and interests 
• Creating transformational learning experiences
• Fostering student agency and lifelong learning

The Librarians in Teaching and Learning create learning experiences that develop student-scholars.

Student-scholars:

• Bring valued knowledge and experiences from their communities into the scholarly conversation  
• Value diverse ways of knowing and forms of inquiry
• Navigate and participate in a complex and constantly shifting information landscape to critically evaluate, use, and create knowledge 
• Have agency in making informed, value-aligned decisions based on information that impact themselves, their families, and their communities
• Develop their ability to engage in self-determined lifelong learning
   

To facilitate the development of student-scholars, TAL faculty:

• Develop and foster relationships with college faculty to create transformative learning opportunities in first year experience curriculum, general education courses, and CSUSM major courses
• Center students’ holistic needs in everything we do - from one-on-one interactions with students, to the intentional creation of learning experiences, to advocating for students across campus communities, and more

(Reviewed and updated Spring 2023)