In this study we analyzed the role that support plays in undergraduate students' learning processes in an e-portfolio context. Three categories of support were identified and used in this study: peer, instructional, and document support. Questionnaire data from 374 undergraduate students were collected and analyzed. Results indicate that support plays a mediating role in cognitive load and learning outcomes when e-portfolios are used in a classroom setting. The results also show that e-portfolio tools increase the cognitive demands on students and that students perceive better learning outcomes in a course when they receive more support. This information could be used to improve our understanding of how educational assessment systems and learning tools should be designed and implemented.

The lifeworlds of children incorporate home, school and community locations. They are different environments and each has different contexts and goals. In Taiwan, while school is more focused on an overt exchange of teaching and learning, home is more informal and generally characterized by unstructured contexts and parents' attention that encourages and enhances their children's learning with practical knowledge. Consequently, while literacy is taught in school via a well-planned curriculum, at home it is expected to happen via everyday communications and family activities that promote a close parent-child relationship. This ethnographic study was designed to consider emerging literacy practices in two main venues of kindergarten children's life (school and home) to get a greater understanding of how early literacy is evident in Taiwan. In addition, patterns and practices of children's literacy learning in both urban and suburban areas of Taiwan are scrutinized and analyzed to provide a rationale for early literacy learning and teaching in a time of governmental mandates and global literacy efforts.