The landscape of higher education has changed dynamically with an increasing focus on online education, especially in response to the pandemic and learner-centered pedagogies. However, changes with respect to increased effective use of online learning in many Asian universities have been minimal, and many Asian educators claim that it is mostly due to cultural disposition and that instructors teach based on how they were taught. We describe the use of learner-centered teaching and e-portfolios that empowers students and nurtures deeper learning in courses for training pre- and in-service teachers at a public university in Macau. A total of 67 teacher students in three cohorts across two academic years participated in the study. During the 14-week courses, they were required to do weekly e-portfolio entries of their learning experience, which were shared with peers to build community and foster peer learning and the entries provided formative assessments to the instructor. A survey instrument was used to assess the impact of these changes by using e-portfolio to facilitate pre-service and in-service teachers’ development. Student survey responses strongly support that the use of e-portfolios fosters deep learning by helping them to document their learning, engage in self-directed learning, receive feedback from their peers, and increase motivation for learning and the use of online technologies through pedagogies focused on students’ actions or active learning. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG, part of Springer Nature 2023.
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