Systematic observation is a foundational skill teachers use in order to document children's reading development and plan developmentally appropriate instruction. However, a variety of challenges make it difficult for teacher educators to help preservice teachers develop systematic observation skills. The purpose of this study is to tell two stories of two technologies (multimedia and video) used to help preservice literacy teachers develop systematic observation skills. These stories include descriptions of each technology and the results of sequential mixed methods studies used to examine the preservice teachers, development of systematic observation. Results indicate that the multimedia group showed similar or better performance than the video group for all measures. Discussion is offered to explore possible explanations for the findings and suggest further investigations.