Murphy Award winner: Teresa Taber Doughty
Teresa Taber Doughty, associate professor of educational studies and 2012 Murphy Award winner. (Purdue University photo/Mark Simons)
Six exceptional teachers were honored with 2012 Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Awards in Memory of Charles B. Murphy at the Faculty Awards Convocation on April 26. This week, Purdue Today will feature a profile on each of the recipients. Today, we focus on Teresa Taber Doughty, associate professor of educational studies.
Combining innovative technology with an old-fashioned determination for excellence is Taber Doughty's recipe for teaching success.
To help students learn how to teach others, Taber Doughty in her classroom incorporates methods such as online scavenger hunts and informational online videos. Soon, she'll require students to teach lessons using an interactive SMART board, introducing them to the hybrid of online and traditional skills they'll need as professionals.
Taber Doughty also quietly positions herself as a role model for the type of teachers she hopes to usher into the professional world.
"I refuse to ever settle for less than 'outstanding' from my students," Taber Doughty says. "I know that all of my students have the potential to be outstanding educators -- holding them to high standards helps ensure they reach that potential."
Taber Doughty's pedagogical success is manifested in the numerous teaching awards she has received. Last year, she was the recipient of the College of Education's Outstanding Teaching Award. She won the same distinction from the School of Education in 2004. Among other accolades, in 2004, 2006 and 2011 Taber Doughty won the Outstanding Teaching Award from the educational studies department.
Despite the high standards to which she holds her students, Taber Doughty often finds ways to inject fun and humor into her teaching. For example, to teach students about collecting observational data, she shows episodes of "The Three Stooges" in class.
"I loved having Teresa as an instructor," one anonymous student evaluator writes. "She was inviting and fun, and was always willing to answer my questions. I really liked that she provided materials for use in my future classroom. I'm really going to miss having her in class."
Taber Doughty strives to constantly improve her teaching methods and regularly seeks student feedback about course design, materials used, and instructional strategies and activities.
