Tanya Dewey, an assistant professor of biology and associate chair of undergraduate studies at Colorado State University, seeks to provide access to essential resources at an affordable price and change how students learn the foundations of biology.

By creating more dynamic labs and resources for students, Dewey hopes to make learning more engaging and affordable. That’s why she was presented with the CSU Libraries’ Open Educator Award, which acknowledges one teacher who actively fosters a culture of leveraging free academic resources and sharing knowledge.

The awarded educator is also someone who aims to alleviate students’ financial strain and reduce the overall cost of education. CSU Libraries received many nominations this year, honoring exceptional educators across campus.

Dewey has been working closely with BZ330 (Mammalogy), LIFE102 (Attributes of Living Systems), and LIFE103 (Biology of Organisms-Animals and Plants) instructors to develop resources to benefit student learning in addition to advocating for the adoption of affordable textbooks and student support platforms. Her impact can be seen through the nearly 500 students that enroll in her courses annually.

“I have designed and used [open learning materials] in my courses for the last five years, including co-leading the transition of the large enrollment LIFE 102/103 series from a static, paid lab manual to dynamic, media-rich labs presented on Canvas for all students,” Dewey wrote in her application.

She said she believes that the open learning materials she has curated will support active student exploration of concepts by incentivizing pre-class work, which allows students to engage more thoroughly with challenging material in class and get the most out of class time.

These resources bring down the cost of education and can enhance student success by providing them with learning material for no extra cost.

“The resources I created have directly impacted the learning experiences of thousands of students at CSU (BZ 330 enrolls 200 students annually, LIFE 103 enrollment approaches 300 each semester),” Dewey said. “LIFE 102 and 103 alone impact almost 10% of the student population at CSU annually.”

The impact that these resources have on learners across campus is evident. By receiving this award, Dewey will be able to support students’ needs in a variety of ways and provide equal access to resources for all of her students.

Textbook affordability is an important issue at CSU. The Colorado Commission on Higher Education has awarded CSU $186,000 over the last five years to help fund more than 30 mini-grants for instructors to adapt, adopt or create open educational resources. Last year’s Open Educator Award winner, Dan Baker, created a freely accessible engineering textbook that’s estimated to be saving students $44,880 per year.