BEd (Hons) (Syd), MA (Educ) (Lond), PhD (UTS)

Associate Professor
Academic area: e-Learning research and development

Telephone: +61 2 9514 5077
Email: Lynette.Schaverien@uts.edu.au
Room: K2-468
Campus: Kuring-gai

Lynette Schaverien is Program Director (e-Learning) in the Faculty of Education and leads two substantial e-learning research and development ARC Linkage grants. The first, begun in 2002, is a collaborative project with Prof Shirley Alexander, Director of the UTS Institute for Interactive Media and Learning and four school partners, three in the independent sector and one in the government sector, and focuses on student learning. The second, begun in 2003, is a collaboration between UTS and NSW DET, and addresses the DET’s strong interest in e-learning mediated teacher professional development in K-6 Science and Technology, in particular. Lyn came to UTS as a Women's Re-entry Scholarship in the Faculty of Education in 1991 and, in 1995, became the Faculty's first doctoral graduate. Prior to entering the tertiary sector, she worked in primary and secondary education, in government and independent schools, in Australia and in the UK, occupying a range of classroom teaching, curriculum leadership and management positions. She is especially interested in the worth for learning of new technologies.

Teaching Areas:
Lyn Schaverien's teaching is in e-learning and e-learning related educational research, though she has had responsibility for teaching undergraduate and postgraduate educational research subjects and technology education subjects. In all these subjects, she has developed approaches whereby students learn by doing. She has taken a major part in the development of a range of computer-mediated learning subjects,
in the B.Ed (Pass) and (Honours) programs and in the Master of Interactive Multimedia and Master of Education. Most recently, as Program Director (e-Learning), she has led the Faculty's development, in collaboration with the Institute for Interactive Media and Learning, of a new suite of postgraduate degrees in e-Learning and is taking a leading part in teaching them. She has co-ordinated and taken an active part in the cross-Faculty teaching team of the interdisciplinary subject Technology, Society and Change since its inception.

Lyn has supervised a range of Bachelor of Education (Hons), Master of Education (Hons) and PhD theses in her areas of research interest.

Research Areas:
Lyn Schaverien's research interests are in the development and testing of new learning theory in particular in technological contexts and most recently in e-Learning systems. To this end, she has undertaken studies of technology-and-science learning and teaching over many years in diverse domains and has developed a biologically based, generative theory of learning, collaboratively with her former doctoral supervisor, to make sense of the findings of these studies. This learning theory has now been published both in the biological sciences and educational research communities, and she has continued to test and develop that theory. As well, she has been active in developing web-delivered e-Learning systems as test beds for her learning theory. In this regard, the Generative Virtual Classroom has received acclaim as an innovative, well-theorised context for teacher education. Currently, Lyn is first-named Chief Investigator in two sizeable ARC Linkage Projects, focusing on student and teacher e-learning respectively, collaboratively with different industry partners.

A member of several professional associations, Lyn was elected President of the NSW Institute for Educational Research in 2002. She has been active in local schools and in teacher development for many years, and continues to work with teachers and with NSW DET committees in advisory capacities.

Publications:

Publications in peak refereed journals

Schaverien, L. (in press). Teacher Education in the Generative Virtual Classroom: Developing Learning Theories through a Web-delivered, Technology-and-science Education Context. International Journal of Science Education.

Hall, R., & Schaverien, L. (2001). Families' participation in young children's science and technology learning. Science Education 85(4): 454-481.

Schaverien, L. (2000). Towards research-based designing for understanding fundamental concepts: The case of the web-delivered Generative Virtual Classroom for teacher education. Aust Journal of Educational Technology 16(1):1-12.

Schaverien, L. & Cosgrove, M. (2000). A biological basis for generative learning in technology-and-science: Part II - Implications for technology-and-science education. International Journal of Science Education 22(1): 13-35.

Schaverien, L. & Cosgrove, M. (1999). A biological basis for generative learning in technology-and-science: Part I - A theory of learning. International Journal of Science Education 21(12): 1223-1235.

Schaverien, L. & Cosgrove, M. (1997). Learning to teach generatively: Mentor-supported professional development and research in technology-and-science. Journal of the Learning Sciences 6(3): 317-346.

Cosgrove, M. & Schaverien, L. (1996). Children's conversations and learning science and technology. International Journal of Science Education 18 (1): 105-116.

Schaverien, L. & Cosgrove, M. (1995). Technology learning 2: Towards reawakening the technologists within primary teachers. International Journal of Technology and Design Education 5(1): 51-68.

Cosgrove, M. & Schaverien, L. (1994). Technology learning 1: Towards a curriculum for children who are technologists. International Journal of Technology and Design Education 4(3): 227-240.

Chapters in books: Scholarly refereed

Cosgrove, M., & Schaverien, L. (1997). Models of science education. In J. Gilbert (ed). Models in Science Education. Reading: Bulmershe Press.

Schaverien, L., & Cosgrove, M. (1997). A biological basis for generative learning in science. In C.E. Oxnard, & L. Freedman (eds.). Perspectives in Human Biology: Human Adaptability - Future Trends and Lessons from the Past (pp. 41-56), Perth: Centre for Human Biology/Singapore, World Scientific.

Published conference proceedings: refereed (1997-)

Clendinning, J., Shepherd, J. and Schaverien, L. (2002). Rethinking e-learning design on generative learning principles. In A. Williamson, C. Gunn, A. Young and T. Clear (eds.) Winds of Change in the sea of learning: Proceedings of the 19th annual conference of ASCILITE (pp. 581-592), Auckland, NZ, 8-11 December.

Schaverien, L. (2002). Learning about e-Learning: Some insights into a postgraduate learning community. In R. Kinshuk, K. Lewis, R. Akahori, T. Kemp, L. Okamoto and C.-H. Lee (eds.) In Proceedings - International Conference on Computers in Education Auckland, NZ, 3-6 December 2002 (pp. 719-721). IEEE: Los Alamitos, Ca.

Hall, R. and Schaverien, L. (2002). Challenging current approaches to early technology education. In J. Reid and T. Brown (eds.) Proceedings of the Challenging Futures: Changing Agendas in Teacher Education Conference, 3-7 February, UNE, Armidale, NSW. [web-based publication: ISBN 0-9581442-1-4]

Schaverien, L. (2000). Technological tests of educational theories: A research role for the Generative Virtual Classroom. In J. Bourdeau and R. Heller (Eds.) Proceedings of ED-MEDIA 2000: World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia and Telecommunications, Montreal, Canada, June 26-July 1, AACE, CD-ROM.

Hall, R.L., Schaverien, L. & Cosgrove, M. (1999, November) Towards research-based early science and technology curriculum: Drawing insights from one child's investigations in his community. Paper presented at AARE-NZARE 1999 Conference, Melbourne. http://www.swin.edu.au/aare

Cosgrove, M. & Schaverien, L. (1998). Multimedia-based learning environments for science teacher education, In J. Goodell (ed.). Proceedings of the Australasian Joint Regional Conference of GASAT and IOSTE (pp. 304-312). Perth, Western Australia: Curtin University of Technology Press.

Schaverien, L. & Cosgrove, M. (1997). Computer based learning environments in teacher education: Helping students to think accurately, boldly and critically, In R. Kevill, R. Oliver and R. Phillips (eds.). ASCILITE97: What Works and Why? Conference Proceedings: 14th Annual Conference of the Australian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education (pp. 544-550). Perth, WA: CUT.

Schaverien, L., Sawers, J., & Sen, S. (1997). A virtual classroom for elementary school teacher education in science. In J. Price, K. Rosa, S. McNeil & J. Willis (eds.) Technology and Teacher Education: SITE Annual 1997. Ch, VA: AACE.

Published conference proceedings: Clearinghouse

Schaverien, L. (2001). Teacher education in the Generative Virtual Classroom: A web-delivered context for developing learning theories. ERIC Clearinghouse for Tests, Measurement and Evaluation (ED453233)

Schaverien, L., & Cosgrove, M. (1997). A neo-Darwinian view of learning and its value for science and science education. ERIC Clearinghouse for Science, Mathematics and Environmental Ed. (ED 406 224).

Selected conference presentations (1997-)

Schaverien, L. (2001, April). Teacher education in the Generative Virtual Classroom: A web-delivered context for developing learning theories. Paper presented to American Educ. Research Association Annual Conference, Seattle.

Schaverien, L. (2000, December). How might biological thinking help educational research? Paper presented at the NZ-AARE 2000 Annual Conference, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW.

Schaverien, L. (1999, December) Towards research-based designing for understanding fundamental concepts: The case of the web-delivered Generative Virtual Classroom for teacher education. Paper presented at ASCILITE99, QUT, Brisbane.

Hall, R.L., Schaverien, L. & Cosgrove, M.(1999, November) Towards research-based early science and technology curriculum. Paper presented at AARE-NZARE Melbourne, Vic.

Cousens, H., & Schaverien, L. (1998, April). Teacher-research: Its historical context and its diversity - a preliminary review of research. Paper presented at the NSW Instit. for Ed. Research Teachers as Researchers Forum, UTS.

Cosgrove, M. & Schaverien, L. (1997, December). Multimedia-based learning environments for science teacher education. Paper presented at the IOSTE/GASAT annual conference, CUT, Perth.

Sawers, J., & Schaverien, L. (1997, July). Creating a web based virtual classroom for science teacher education students. Poster presented at the Ausweb97 annual conference, Southern Cross University, Lismore, NSW.

Schaverien, L. (April, 1997). A virtual classroom for elementary school teacher education in science. Paper presented at the annual conference of the Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education, Orlando, Florida.

Schaverien, L. (1997, March). A neo-Darwinian view of learning and its value for science and science education. Paper presented at the American Educational Research Association annual conference, Chic., Il.

Schaverien, L. (1997, March). A biological basis for generative learning in science. Paper presented at the National Association for Research in Science Teaching, Oak Brook, Illinois.

Interactive Multimedia-based e-Learning Environments

Schaverien, L. (1998). The Generative Virtual Classroom. v.3.0, CD-ROM, UTS, Sydney.

Cosgrove, M, Schaverien, L, Trowsdale, R, Forret, M, and Logan, P.(2000).Where did the cold come from? CD-ROM, UTS.