Nicole Lapeyrouse was selected by her colleagues to receive the Chuck D. Dziuban Excellence in Online Teaching Award at the University of Central Florida, according to a Mar. 24 announcement.
The award recognizes faculty who demonstrate exemplary online teaching and is named after UCF’s first Pegasus Professor, Chuck D. Dziuban, an international pioneer in online learning. This year marks the first time it will be presented during Founders’ Day on April 1.
Lapeyrouse, who holds both a master’s and doctorate from UCF, is known for her engaging approach to online chemistry courses. Her classes feature personalized elements such as the “ChemisTea Time” jingle and videos that combine scientific concepts with her personality. Students have responded positively, with some even recognizing her outside of class settings due to the popularity of her course materials.
“I design the classes this way because I love doing it,” Lapeyrouse said. “But most importantly, it’s effective. That’s the end goal.” She added about receiving the award: “It’s a tremendous honor because Dr. Dziuban’s name is synonymous with the pillars of good online teaching… At that time, I wanted to do something different, but I had no idea where it would lead.”
Lapeyrouse began developing her distinctive video-based instruction in 2017 as a method for connecting with large classes—sometimes up to 475 students—in chemistry fundamentals courses. By turning her garage into a studio and creating content that integrates discussion boards and interactive activities like scavenger hunts, she has seen measurable improvements in student performance: pre-test scores averaged 25%, while post-test averages rose to 83%.
She continues to enhance her courses by adopting new technology such as teleprompters and lightboards for more engaging presentations—even though each ten-minute video can take up to ten hours to produce. “When I see how engaged the students are,” Lapeyrouse said, “that makes it all worthwhile.”
The recognition reflects ongoing efforts at UCF to improve online education through innovation and personal connection between instructors and students.
