Professor Gwendolyn Lawrie

Primary research interest
Investigation of how multimodal representations of concepts can be effectively integrated to support student construction of understanding of concepts in digital learning environments. Evaluation of the effectiveness of online assessment designed to authentically capture student thinking to inform the provision of formative feedback.
Additional role
- Principle Practitioner (Inclusivity & Diversity, ITaLI): In this role, I lead work focused on enhancing inclusive teaching and assessment practices through evidence-informed approaches and creating resources that connect to UQ contexts. I also facilitate workshops and engage with UQ staff who seek further development in the this area of practice. My goal is to build collaborative partnerships across ITaLI, schools and faculties for a shared understanding on inclusivity and diversity in teaching and learning.
- Affiliate Professor, School of Education: In this role, I supervise Education HDR students and collaborate in research.
About me
Gwen has been a Teaching Focused Professor in the School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences since 2008, she was previously a Research Focused academic at UQ. Her discipline-based education research and higher education research projects investigate inclusive practices that can respond to student diversity. Her work also explores student engagement in learning through contemporary pedagogies, for example collaborative inquiry, undergraduate research experiences, and mechanisms for provision of formative feedback to support self-assessment in learning. Gwen is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, Fellow of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute and has been recognised for teaching and research through multiple national, professional and institutional teaching awards including the 2021 RACI Fensham medal.
Current projects
- New approaches to assessment and provision of feedback in digital learning environments.
- Design and evaluation of multimodal resources for chemistry blended learning environments.
Collaborations
- A/Prof Kim Nichols (SoE), A/Prof Deanne Gannaway (ITaLI), Prof Kelly Matthews (UQ), A/Prof Hassan Khosravi (ITaLI), Dr Nell Baghaei (EECS), Dr Effie Kartsonaki (SCMB), A/Prof Jack Wang (SCMB).
Funded projects
- 2024 UQ Teaching Innovation Grant ($25k) Inclusive, Contemporary & Authentic Assessment: Curating a digital UQ-led library of exemplars. Lawrie (SCMB Lead), Gannaway (ITaLI), Frost (HASS), Mylonas (BEL).
- 2022 UQ Teaching Innovation Grant ($114k) Growing inclusive learning communities: Enhancing inclusive teaching and learning at UQ through professional learning, student partnerships and effective practice. Lawrie (SCMB Lead), Wang (SCMB), Gannaway (ITaLI).
- 2020 Endowment Fund, Universitas21 ($10k) Learning together in a global pandemic: Practices and principles for teaching and assessing online in uncertain times. K.E. Matthews (UQ, lead), Lawrie (UQ), Martensson (Lund), Roxa (Lund), McLaughlin (Edinburgh), Bovill (Edinburgh).
- 2019 Faculty of Science Teaching & Learning Grant ($15k) Enhancing blended learning in chemistry through collaborative digital drawing tools and online access to 3D models. Lawrie (SCMB lead), Kartsonaki (SCMB), Blanchfield (SCMB), Holt (FoS).
- 2019 UQ Teaching Innovation Grant ($133k) Developing authentic online assessment to support collaborative explanation and critical reasoning in large classes. Lawrie (SCMB lead), Wheatley (SMME), Kavanagh (EAIT/Science), Kartsonaki (SCMB), Sharpe (SCMB) Waller (eLIPSE).
- 2019 UQ Teaching Innovation Grant ($179k) Embedding the development of Digital Literacy Skills within undergraduate and postgraduate curricula across multiple disciplines at UQ. Lewis (HABS lead), Carah (HASS), Diaz (HASS), Lawrie (Science), Reyes (HASS), Slade (ITaLI), Smeaton (UQ Library), Teixeira Isaias (ITaLI), Wang (Science), Yates (UQ Library).
- 2017 Faculty of Science Teaching & Learning Grant ($38k) Widening first year chemistry student participation in online, blended and flexible modes of learning. Lawrie (SCMB lead), Allsebrook (SCMB), Kartsonaki (SCMB), Philip Sharpe (SCMB).
- 2015 Office for Learning & Teaching Innovation & Development Grant ($220k) Assessing the Assessments: Evidencing and benchmarking student learning outcomes in Chemistry. Schmid (USyd, lead), Schultz (QUT), Dargaville (QUT), O’Brien (UoW), Bedford (UoW), Pyke (Adelaide), Priest (Adelaide), Southam (Curtin), Lim (Deakin), Jamie (Macquarie), Lawrie (UQ).
- 2014 UQ Technology Enhanced Learning Grant ($100k) Online, virtual, and adaptive learning environments: improving the journey through large first year chemistry courses. Lawrie (lead), Susan Rowland, James de Voss, Lawrie Gahan, Joanne Blanchfield and Philip Sharpe (all SCMB).
- 2013 Office of Learning and Teaching Seed Grant ($50k). Supporting a new generation: Development and transfer of pedagogical content knowledge in tertiary chemistry. Project Leader: Madeleine Schultz (QUT); Team: Gwen Lawrie (UQ).
- 2012 Office of Learning and Teaching, Innovation & Development Grant ($200k). Enhancing the secondary-tertiary transition in chemistry through formative assessment and self-regulated learning environments. Project Leader: Gwen Lawrie; Team: Madeleine Schultz (QUT), Tony Wright (UQ), Glennys O’Brien (UoW), Simon Bedford (UoW) and Roy Tasker (UWS).
- 2012 Office of Learning and Teaching, Leadership for Excellence in Learning and Teaching Program ($220k). Developing and resourcing academics to help students conduct and communicate undergraduate research on a large scale. Project Leader: Susan Rowland; Team: Gwen Lawrie (UQ), Kirsten Zimbardi (UQ), Jack Wang (UQ) and Paula Myatt (UQ).
- 2012 UQ Teaching & Learning Strategic Grant (19k). Development and implementation of a pilot chemistry preparatory program to improve success and retention of Indigenous students in UQ’s MBBS program. Project Leader: Emma Bartle (Medicine), Team: Toombs (Health Sciences), Lawrie (SCMB) and Corporal (Medicine)
- 2011 UQ Faculty of Science Teaching & Learning Grant ((11k). The SoTL writers group: supporting scholarship and publication for T&L academics at UQ. Project Leaders: Gwen Lawrie & Susan Rowland. Team: Merrilyn Goos, Clair Hughes & Kelly Matthews (TEDI), Robyn Evans (FoS).
- 2011 UQ Faculty of Science Teaching & Learning Grant (7.5k). Demonstrating the applicability of elab assessment Wiki environments in wider laboratory assessment contexts. Project Leaders: Gwen Lawrie & Lisbeth Grøndahl. Team: Kirsten Zimbardi (SBMS) and Ian Gentle (SCMB).
- 2010 UQ Teaching & Learning Strategic Grant (33k). Addressing undergraduate student diversity and engagement in science courses through the introduction of laboratory UREs. Project Leaders: Gwen Lawrie & Susan Rowland. Team: Denise Adams, Joanne Blanchfield & Paula Myatt (TEDI).
- 2010 UQ Faculty of Science Teaching & Learning Grant (12k). Virtual Lab Reports: Authentic Assessment for Learning. Project Leaders: Gwen Lawrie. Team: Lisbeth Grøndahl (SCMB) & Trish Andrews (TEDI).
- 2009 ALTC Competitive Project (215k). IS-IT learning? Online Interdisciplinary Scenario-Inquiry Tasks for active learning in large, first year STEM courses. Project Leaders: Lawrence Gahan & Gwen Lawrie. Team: PeterAdams (FoS), Kelly Matthews (TEDI), Lydia Kavanagh (EAIT), Phillip Long (CEIT) & Gabriela Weaver (Purdue University, US).
Teaching interests
- CHEM1100 Chemistry 1 (Course coordinator)
- CHEM2060 & CHEM2902 Intermediate and Advanced Chemistry 2 (Course coordinator)
- CHEM2056 Physical Chemistry for Engineers
- CHEM3013 Nanoscience: Self-assembly
Awards and achievements
- 2021 RACI Fensham Medal for outstanding contributions to the teaching of chemistry and science in general over an extended period
- 2018 Fellow, Royal Australian Chemical Institute (FRACI CChem)
- 2018 UNSW School of Chemistry Mellor Medal for Chemistry Education
- 2017 Australian Award for University Teaching (AAUT) Award for Programs that Enhance Learning (First Year Chemistry Teaching Team)
- 2017 RACI Chemistry Education Division Commemorative Medal
- 2017 Senior Fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy (SFHEA)
- 2016 UQ Award for Programs that Enhance Learning (Chemistry First Year Teaching Team)
- 2013 Pearson/Royal Australian Chemical Institute Chemistry Educator of the Year
- 2013 OLT, Australian Award for University Teaching (AAUT) Award for Teaching Excellence
- 2012 UQ Award for Teaching Excellence
- 2012 UQ Teaching Fellowship
- 2011 Faculty of Science Teaching Excellence Award
- Chair (2011-15) Chemical Education Group, Queensland Branch of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute.
- Member of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute, MRACI, CChem
- T&L project websites
Featured publications
- Slade, Christine, Lawrie, Gwendolyn, Taptamat, Nantana, Browne, Eleanor, Sheppard, Karen, and Matthews, Kelly E. (2022). Insights into how academics reframed their assessment during a pandemic: disciplinary variation and assessment as afterthought. Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education 47 (4) 588-605. https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2021.1933379
- Le, Branda, Lawrie, Gwendolyn A., and Wang, Jack T. H. (2022). Student self-perception on digital literacy in STEM blended learning environments. Journal of Science Education and Technology 31 (3) 1-19. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10956-022-09956-1
- Al Mamun, Md Abdullah, Lawrie, Gwendolyn, and Wright, Tony (2020). Instructional design of scaffolded online learning modules for self-directed and inquiry-based learning environments. Computers and Education 144 103695 103695. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2019.103695
- Lawrie, Gwen, Marquis, Elizabeth, Fuller, Eddie, Newman, Tara, Qiu, Mei, Nomikoudis, Milton, Roelofs, Frits, and Van Dam, Lianne (2017). Moving towards inclusive learning and teaching: A synthesis of recent literature. Teaching and Learning Inquiry 5 (1) . https://doi.org/10.20343/teachlearninqu.5.1.3
- Auchincloss, Lisa Corwin, Laursen, Sandra L., Branchaw, Janet L., Eagan, Kevin, Graham, Mark, Hanauer, David I., Lawrie, Gwendolyn, McLinn, Colleen M., Pelaez, Nancy, Rowland, Susan, Towns, Marcy, Trautmann, NancyM., Varma-Nelson, Pratibha, Weston, Timothy J., and Dolan, Erin L. (2014). Assessment of course-based undergraduate research experiences: a meeting report. CBE Life Sciences Education 13 (1) 29-40. https://doi.org/10.1187/cbe.14-01-0004
Researcher biography
Gwen is a Teaching-Focused academic in the School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences at UQ, she was appointed to this role in 2008 following several postdoctoral and senior research focused appointments in the UK and Australia. After successfully transferring from traditional chemistry laboratory research into discipline-based education and higher education research, her work has addressed student diversity in prior learning and engagement of students through: collaborative discourse and inquiry tasks; the implementation of undergraduate research experiences; and mechanisms for provision of formative feedback to support self-regulated learning. She currently leads an active research program into supporting and assessing student self-regulated learning in online environments in parallel with exploring how combinations of multimodal representations impact on learning. Gwen is a Fellow of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute, Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and the current Editor in Chief of Chemistry Education & Research Practice (RSC Publishing). Her teaching has been recognised by multiple national, professional and institutional teaching awards including the RACI Fensham Medal in 2021.