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This paper presents findings from a two-­year pilot project into the use of ePortfolios as a tool for assessment in a two year, field-­oriented, inquiry-­based teacher preparation program. Participants consisted of five cohorts of pre­service student teachers and five instructors; interviews, focus groups, artifacts, and project meetings provided the raw data for analysis. The originality of this work rests in the importance of establishing an eJournal to accompany the ePortfolio. Based on our findings in this action research study, we challenge and add to the existing ePortfolio literature around such issues as ePortfolio project design, process vs. product, the use of templates, social software, and documentation.

This research explores the idea of embedding and linking to existing content in learning object repositories and investigates teacher-designer use of learning objects within one high school mathematics course in an online school. This qualitative case study supports and extends the learning object literature, and brings forward context-specific examples of issues around repository design, autonomy and self-containment, technical support and granularity. Moreover, these findings have implications for building learning objects and repositories that could better support teachers in their instructional design and pedagogical decision-making.

Susan Crichton and Gail Kopp explore how multimedia technologies help develop and support teachers' understanding of multiple intelligences in the classroom. They conceptualize the relationship between multiple intelligences, specific multimedia applications, and contemporary research and offer a model of distance delivery that provides professional development and ongoing support by a community of fellow educators. They provide a glimpse into the first three years of a five-year project by a team of Canadian teacher-educators who provided assistance to educators in Western China seeking to enhance their understanding of--and develop their skills in--using student-centered instruction, a method of teaching that places importance on the concept of multiple intelligences. This group developed a distance education course using multimedia technologies that allowed teachers to support one another and learn from best practices and share site-specific activities. Crichton and Kopp also provide a glimpse into the future of the project, where teachers will be able to contribute to the course site and interact with one another as they begin to implement student-centered education in their classrooms. (Contains 8 figures, 2 exhibits and 1 table.)