UCF Chemistry Instructor’s Creative Approach Earns Excellence in Online Teaching Award

Highlights

• Nicole Lapeyrouse '16MS '18PhD is known for her engaging online chemistry course, which includes memorable elements like her ChemisTea Time jingle, that showcases scientific concepts alongside her personality.

• Lapeyrouse was selected by her colleagues to receive UCF's Chuck D. Dziuban Excellence in Online Teaching Award at Founder's Day on April 1.

• Named for UCF's first Pegasus Professor and an international pioneer in online learning, the award is bestowed annually to one faculty member for exemplary online teaching. This is the first year it will be awarded at Founders' Day.

Nicole Lapeyrouse '16MS '18PhD never knows when and where she might be recognized. Students and their significant others who have never met her in person will come up to her in stores and along sidewalks to say, "Excuse me, but aren't you …?"

Yes, it's her.

The chemistry and geology instructor recently walked into a coffee shop on campus and heard the barista casually singing a familiar tune: Chemsi-Tea time, Ohh-Ohh-Ohh. Flattered, Lapeyrouse said, "That's my jingle. You must be in my online course."

Random encounters around the community make it clear that students are engaging with the videos Lapeyrouse produces for her classes. They learn about concepts like plate tectonics and viscosity, while also getting to know the person teaching it - she likes drinking tea, for example - and that's the point.

"I design the classes this way because I love doing it," Lapeyrouse says. "But most importantly, it's effective. That's the end goal."

On Founder's Day, Lapeyrouse will be recognized in public again, this time by peers who have selected her to receive the Chuck D. Dziuban Award for excellence in online teaching. The award, in its 13^th year, is named for UCF's first Pegasus Professor and an international pioneer in online learning.

"It's a tremendous honor because Dr. Dziuban's name is synonymous with the pillars of good online teaching," she says. "I heard about him when I was developing my first course. At that time, I wanted to do something different, but I had no idea where it would lead."

Merging Science with a Hidden Talent

Awards were not on Lapeyrouse's mind when she designed her proof of concept in 2017 as a better way for one instructor to connect Chemistry Fundamentals to a class of 475 students.

"To teach the material well to that many students, I needed to be creative," she says of the flipped class that eventually supported a fully online class. Students had known Lapeyrouse as an authority on math and science, with a doctorate in chemistry from UCF to back it up. They were not aware of her love for art.

The large enrollment class, oddly enough, allowed her to apply all her interests in a flipped classroom format. Instead of developing a standard educational video with the typical PowerPoint slides and voiceover, Lapeyrouse personalized her course. She turned her garage into a studio, borrowed her sister's camera and, after dozens of takes and hours of editing, debuted ChemisTea Time, complete with the introductory jingle.

"Honestly, I just hoped it wouldn't bomb," she says.

It didn't bomb, although interest in her classes did explode. Feedback was so positive that she used the same video format for her geology course, which has grown from 30 students to as many as 125.

Within the videos, Lapeyrouse enters discussion boards to embed questions and scavenger hunts, and make sure students understand the material. It's working, as evidenced by pre-test scores climbing from an average of 25% to a post-test average of 83%.

Over the years, Lapeyrouse has integrated better technology to elevate the production value and engagement of her videos. She created a teleprompter and a lightboard so she can write directly on the screen and maintain eye contact with her invisible audience.

What the students do not see is the time Lapeyrouse puts into each video: 10 hours for one 10-minute video.

"When I see how engaged the students are," she says, "that makes it all worthwhile."

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