University of Arizona Pressbook Earns International MERLOT Classics Award

A multimedia open educational resource published on the University of Arizona Pressbooks platform has received international recognition for excellence in teaching and learning. Decoding Deception, authored by Diana Daly, associate professor of practice and associate dean for graduate academic affairs in the College of Information Science, and Kainan Jarrette, Daly’s former research and instructional assistant, was named a recipient of the 2026 MERLOT Classics Award. The honor was awarded by the Information and Communication Technology Literacy Editorial Board of MERLOT (Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching).

Award-Winning Open Education Innovation

The MERLOT Classics Award recognizes outstanding online learning materials that enhance teaching and learning across disciplines. In honoring Decoding Deception, the editorial board cited the resource as “particularly relevant and timely,” noting its engaging blend of humor, visuals, games, and hands-on activities to help learners evaluate information and understand how emerging technologies, especially artificial intelligence, can accelerate the spread of misinformation.

The book was published through the University of Arizona Pressbooks platform, jointly supported by the University Libraries and the University Center for Assessment, Teaching and Technology (UCATT). Pressbooks enables faculty, staff, and students to create free, openly licensed digital learning materials that can be updated, customized, and shared worldwide.

“This is a really great honor for Diana and Kainan,” said Cheryl Casey, open education librarian with University Libraries and lead administrator of the U of A’s Pressbooks platform. “We are a small publishing platform compared to many others, so the fact that this work was noticed and recognized internationally is huge.”

A Collaborative Approach to Open, Customizable Learning

Unlike commercial textbooks, which can take years to publish, open educational resources created in Pressbooks allow instructors to respond quickly to rapidly changing fields. “By the time a commercial textbook is published, the content can already be outdated,” Casey said. “Pressbooks allows faculty to fill gaps they see in the textbook market and create materials that align exactly with their course goals.”

Pressbooks also allows instructors to create highly customizable content tailored to their courses and students. Faculty can adapt and reorganize materials to reflect their learning objectives, course scope and sequence, and student experiences. “Instead of a generic textbook designed to appeal to everyone, instructors can include local examples, diverse voices, and content students can actually see themselves in,” Casey said.

At the University of Arizona, Pressbooks is part of a broader ecosystem of collaboration and support. University Libraries and UCATT jointly fund and manage the platform and offer OER/Pressbooks learning communities focused on open pedagogy, accessibility, copyright, and interactive learning design.

“We’ve relied heavily on these learning communities to build a community of practice across campus,” Casey said. “They connect people who are interested in open pedagogy and give them a space to collaborate and troubleshoot together.”

That openness extends the reach of U of A scholarship well beyond campus. Pressbooks titles are indexed in global directories such as the Pressbooks Directory and the Open Textbook Library, making them discoverable and reusable by educators worldwide. “It really ties into the university’s land-grant mission,” Casey said. “We’re leveraging faculty expertise here in Tucson, and publishing it so the entire world can benefit.”

As Decoding Deception gains international attention through the MERLOT Classics Award, the recognition highlights not only the authors’ achievement but also the collaborative infrastructure behind open education at the University of Arizona, where the Libraries, UCATT, and faculty partners are rethinking how learning materials are created, shared, and sustained in ways that directly support student success. “Making content more accessible, more affordable, and more relevant to students is what excites me most,” Casey said. “When students can see themselves in the material, when it reflects their experiences and is up to date, it really supports student success.”