Although a substantial literature is devoted to the professional development of teachers, emerging dimensions located around e-facilitation techniques have yet to be documented and their implications understood. This paper is based around a case study of a professional group of highly experienced teachers from the state sector who were undertaking a research dissertation within the "chartered teacher" (CT) programme. The rationale for their studies is embraced by the action-research paradigm where it is expected that change and improvement in practice occur as the fundamental impacts (Cohen & Manion, 1996). The CT programme was established by the Scottish Executive and the General Teaching Council for Scotland, in partnership with the higher education sector. Its ideological underpinnings, however, go deeper, lying in a concern with the fostering of a dynamic, putative evidence-based professionalism. It is "delivered" entirely through the Internet with students located throughout Scotland, including the remote Western Isles. Our knowledge of Internet-mediated forms of learning is under-developed, particularly in relation to how teachers conceptualise research practice and embed it in school life whilst simultaneously undertaking full-time teaching duties. In one strand of the literature analysis an attempt is made to contextualize the students' engagement with CT studies as part of a societal and policy trend favouring an agenda of lifelong learning in the Information Society (Kumar, 1996). The findings endorse a largely positive account of professional development, and associated personal achievement in cyberspace. They highlight, however, challenges facing a more cognitively driven form of professionalism in school cultures which may be antipathetic to innovation. Conclusions are drawn that are relevant to schools, local authorities and the university sector as well as policy-makers. (Contains 1 table and 1 note.)