The authors of this article coordinate and teach different core subjects within a course of preservice teacher education in the Faculty of Education, University of Melbourne, Australia. Both subjects are obligatory, and are taught to the same cohort of students. The first author coordinates the subject Learning and Teaching; the second author coordinates Language in Education. Each author (as a member of a design team) independently developed an interactive CD-ROM to be used as a fundamental component of subject content and delivery. Even though each author was motivated by a similar philosophy of worthwhile learning and teaching, differences both in teaching purpose for the subject and in interpretation of the nature of desired learning generated two strikingly different products. In this article, the two multimedia products--Quality in Learning and Teaching (QuILT) and Building Understandings in Literacy and Teaching (BUILT)--are compared to illuminate the influences of teaching purpose and learning goals on the creation of educational multimedia. These major design issues are complemented by an overview of the manner of use of each program within the teacher education program, and faculty and student reactions to program implementation. Finally, implications are provided to guide other educators who wish to produce multimedia for teacher professional preparation. (Contains 2 figures.)