The Middle Space: On Blogs and Beyond in Blended Learning

Abstract

As blended learning (BL) is becoming a new normal in the context of higher education, there is a growing need to attune pedagogies to this context. As reflective blogs were found to be supportive of pre-service student teachers’ (PSTs’) as well as teacher educators’ (TEs’) professional development, the current study aimed to explore PSTs’ and TEs’ perceptions regarding the potential of integrating blogs into the BL modality. Applying a qualitative approach, analyses of 528 PSTs’ blog posts, transcriptions of two focus groups with 11 PSTs, and 3 TEs’ reflections and discussion transcripts yielded four themes that related to both the PSTs’ and the TEs’ perspectives regarding the integration of blogs into BL: (1) keeping sequential learning, (2) supporting self-directed learning, (3) keeping a sense of a learning community, and (4) increasing motivation and critical thinking. Nevertheless, both the PSTs and TEs described unique roles for blogging in BL. The TEs indicated that blogs support a sense of control, reveal misconceptions, and model teaching, while the PSTs indicated that blogs increase or decrease self-confidence during BL. The implications pertain to the contribution of blogging in BL, as well as to the four pedagogical principles of effective BL design: (a) continuity in learning, (b) fostering autonomous learning, (c) building a learning community, and (d) reflectivity and professional development.

1. Introduction

There has been an increasingly empirical focus on blended learning (BL) as a “new normal” in higher education (Cahapay, 2020; Megahed & Hassan, 2021), including teacher education (Keengwe & Kang, 2013). According to Graham’s (2006) common definition, BL is a learning approach that “combines face-to-face instruction with computer-mediated instruction” (p. 5). Hrastinski (2019) argues that although many scholars describe BL as all types of education that include some aspect of face-to-face (F2F) learning and online learning, there is still ambiguity about the meaning of BL. Similarly, Cronje (2020) found that most definitions of BL are “restricted to mentioning a mixture of F2F and web-based instruction” (p. 120). However, he argues that BL should be about more than just mixing F2F and online components and should include teaching strategies that facilitate an effective learning process. In this regard, he suggests that BL should be defined as “The appropriate use of a mix of theories, methods, and technologies to optimize learning in a given context” (p. 120).

While, in and of itself, BL is not a new educational approach (Graham et al., 2013; River et al., 2016), it was only during the COVID-19 pandemic that it gained its main popularity (Topping, 2023; Zhao & Watterston, 2021). While Rasheed et al. (2020) argue that there is room to improve teaching and learning related to the online component of BL, Graham et al. (2013) emphasize the importance of harmonizing the relation between the F2F and online modules of BL.

In a previous study, it was found that teacher educators (TEs) activate a variety of pedagogical methods for improving BL (Biberman-Shalev et al., 2023). One of the pedagogies frequently adopted by the TEs in the online component was asking student teachers to read or watch an external media resource and post responses to the provided content in a blog. However, Karpava (2023) found that in blogging assignments, student teachers prefer to address “their own topics that would help them to express their own thoughts” (p. 62) and that reflections on their routines might be more suitable for blog entries. In this regard, integrating reflective blogs during teacher preparation was found to support the professional development of pre-service student teachers (PSTs) as well as TEs (Biberman-Shalev, 2018).

In this context, promoting PSTs as reflective practitioners is a key component of teacher preparation (McFadden et al., 2014) and an essential aspect of developing their professional identities as leaders (Chamo & Broza, 2023). Therefore, focusing on technology platforms that support reflective practices in the “new normal” of a BL context holds significant added value and bears great significance. Thus, the current study wished to delve into the understanding of the integration of reflective blogs in the context of BL. Furthermore, it aimed to explore PSTs’ and TEs’ perceptions regarding possible opportunities to integrate reflective blogs into the BL modality.

2. Literature Review

2.1. Blended Learning in Teacher Education

BL has emerged as a pivotal facet in the reformation of teacher education, particularly against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, which precipitated a global transition to remote learning within educational institutions. However, according to McFadden et al. (2014), the integration of BL within teacher education remains a relatively underexplored landscape.

In navigating the transition from traditional F2F instructional settings to BL environments, TEs are confronted with challenges that profoundly impact their professional identities and instructional efficacy. Howard (2021) found that attitudes toward BL among faculty were largely negative, owing to a sense of ineffectiveness, uncertainty, personal disharmony, and devaluation of their pedagogical worth. This mindset resulted in the erosion of their professional identities, which in turn reduced their self-efficacy and caused them to underutilize subject expertise while at the same time increasing administrative roles and widening divisions between faculty and students. Nevertheless, amidst the challenges posed by the pandemic, a discernible opportunity emerged for constructive reform within educational systems (Chan, 2019).

Supported by empirical evidence, BL was found to be facilitating a potent teaching–learning paradigm for a diverse array of learners by amplifying teacher–student interaction, affording flexibility, augmenting learning engagement, and nurturing learner motivation (Rasheed et al., 2020). Particularly, BL in teacher education was found to support the heutagogy approach to learning (Biberman-Shalev et al., 2023). This is directly related to student agency, which emphasizes the importance of shifting the learners’ role from a passive role to an active one. In this regard, Little (1991) argues that learner autonomy involves the “capacity for detachment, critical reflection, decision-making, and independent action” (p. 4). Designing a BL environment that supports learner autonomy may also shift the TE’s role to that of a facilitator or moderator that is focused on providing support and scaffolding needed by the learner (Biberman-Shalev et al., 2023). Thus, BL holds promise as a transformative tool in teacher education, furnishing a comprehensive framework that enriches competencies and knowledge whilst cultivating reflective pedagogical practices (Motteram, 2006). However, efficacious implementation of BL necessitates a nuanced comprehension of instructional differentials and strategic pedagogical approaches (Yang & MacLeod, 2019). Despite the ubiquity of BL, an exigency persists for rigorous research endeavors aimed at substantiating its purported benefits (Calderón et al., 2021).

2.2. Blogs and Blended Learning

A blog constitutes an online platform wherein individuals publish posts reflecting personal experiences, news items, and articles across a variety of topics. Readers engage with these posts by leaving comments, thereby fostering discourse within the online community. Blog owners are colloquially referred to as bloggers, while the collective community of bloggers is known as the blogosphere (Biberman-Shalev, 2018). Integrating blogs into teacher education is not a new phenomenon, and there is growing interest in investigating their contribution to teacher training (Bataller-Català, 2024).

Empirical studies indicate that when TEs incorporate blogs into course requirements a positive impact on STs’ learning processes may follow, particularly enhancement of reading, writing, and reflection skills (Tang & Lam, 2014). Blogs were also found to facilitate flexibility in time and space during the learning process while promoting satisfaction, academic achievement, comprehension of studied material, and the exchange of ideas and practical experiences among faculty members and students (Kirkwood & Price, 2014). Additional research highlights blogs’ contributions to fostering critical thinking and social interaction (Deng & Yuen, 2011; Karpava, 2023). When integrated into the practicum field, blogs may serve as platforms supporting cognitive, social, and emotional dimensions of learning, fostering the creation of a community that influences STs’ professional identities (Chu et al., 2012). Conversely, a few studies indicate that blogging makes a relatively limited contribution to the advancement of STs’ professional development, particularly concerning enhanced higher-order reflection (Jones & Ryan, 2017). According to Noel (2015), blogging may also harm learning by preventing the creation of conceptual associations among concepts due to the challenge of processing too much information. Thus, when integrating blogs into the learning process, TEs are recommended to balance content difficulty, time, and workload.

Nevertheless, blogs may facilitate the construction of collaborative communities of practice for STs and TEs (Wenger, 2000). PSTs perceive blogs as platforms for receiving practical advice and emotional support from peers and TEs, fostering a sense of belonging within a community of educators. In this matter, by adopting Zeichner’s (2010) notion of a third space one might perceive a blog as the “third space” of teacher training.

As BL usually contains F2F and distance components, blogs may act as a “middle space” (Oravec, 2003) where four strategies for integrating blogs into BL are used: posting student work, exchanging hyperlinks, fostering reflective approaches to educational genres, and forming and maintaining knowledge communities. Furthermore, blogs may support students’ and instructors’ reflective practices in both online and F2F modes. Thus, in the context of BL, STs’ agency while using blogs may be reflected to some extent in STs’ determination of the portion of insights incorporated from the F2F and online modes. In this regard, students may use a blog to enrich F2F interactions while using online material and vice versa.

The corpus of research relating to the integration of blogs into BL carried out pre- and post-COVID-19 points to broad aspects of blogs’ contributions. For example, using weblogs in BL can support the continuity of learning. As BL offers to extend teaching and learning beyond physical classrooms and lecture halls, blogs may be used as reflective journals in which posts may be published flexibly from different locations at different times (Pape, 2010). Chang and Chang (2014) found that blogs may encourage interaction between students and peer support when they are activated in hybrid learning environments. There is evidence that blogs may also promote the heutagogy approach in digital learning (Blaschke & Hase, 2019).

Although BL is researched a lot, little is known about the way technological learning tools—including blogs—should be used to design an effective BL environment, especially in teacher education. In recent comprehensive research, Bizami et al. (2023) systematically analyzed 59 studies to map the principles of three education pedagogies, heutagogy, peeragogy, and cybergogy, and the capabilities of technological learning tools to implement these pedagogies appropriately in the context of BL. Concerning blogs, Bizami et al. found that the capabilities of blogs that are appropriate to use in a BL environment are management, communication time, self-related, learning task, learning community-related, and experiential learning. In addition, blogs were found to be appropriate for synchronous as well as asynchronous sessions of the online mode of BL. For example, Bizami et al. refer to Fattah’s (2016) study, which pointed out that blogs support the development of students’ autonomy by managing their blogging documents, transferring knowledge learned in the F2F mode, and reflecting on their learning experience. In sum, Bizami et al. found that the following six capabilities of blogs may be reflected in BL: personalization, asynchrony, autonomy, reflection, critical thinking, and self-expression and -confidence.

It seems that despite the widespread availability and accessibility of blogs and the empirical evidence of their contributions to TEs’ and PSTs’ professional development and training, their integration into teacher preparation in the context of BL remains relatively limited. Accordingly, the following research question was asked:

How do STs and TEs perceive the meanings of reflective blogs in their teaching and learning within the BL modality?

3. Materials and Methods

3.1. Research Context

Three groups of PSTs participated in a weekly college-based BL course titled “Issues in Curriculum Planning” taught by different TEs with identical content and assignments. The 12-week course included 8 face-to-face (F2F) meetings and 4 asynchronous online meetings, which alternated weekly. After each meeting, the PSTs were required to reflect in a communal blog on Moodle and comment on at least one peer’s post. Blogging contributed 20% of the course’s grade, with a minimum of 10 posts and 10 comments. The instructions encouraged free reflection on aspects such as learning insights, disagreements, or connections to other courses or practicum experiences, though the PSTs could choose other relevant topics. The TEs read all posts weekly and occasionally used selected posts to initiate class discussions.

To examine the PSTs’ and TEs’ perceptions of the blog’s role in BL and its contribution to the learning and teaching process, a qualitative phenomenological approach (Flick, 2004) was adopted. This method emphasizes the meanings learners assign to their experiences and how they shape their beliefs and behaviors (Prosser, 2000).

3.2. Participants

This study included 11 PSTs, all females with an average age of 23.7, who were enrolled in the college-based BL courses in which the TEs integrated a reflective blog. These PSTs were trained in the elementary school B.Ed. training program, specializing in various fields. The PSTs were already familiar with blogs, as sampled pedagogical mentors at the college frequently utilize them as reflective journals in practicum settings. The PSTs agreed to participate in a focus group to discuss their insights regarding the role of the blog in the BL they were experiencing.

Additionally, the three TEs—all females—who integrated blogs into their college-based BL courses agreed to participate in a focus group to discuss insights related to the integration of blogs into their teaching.

Ethical considerations were diligently upheld, with the PSTs granting permission for their posts to be used in research and voluntarily participating in the focus group following the completion of their final course. Additionally, all participants provided informed consent prior to joining the focus group. Anonymity and unbiased procedures were maintained throughout the data collection and analysis processes. This study received approval from the Ethics Committee of the sampled college (approval No. 2024012001).

3.3. Data Collection

This study utilized three tools for data collection:

• Focus groups: Two groups of 5 and 6 PSTs (out of 51 enrolled in the BL course) participated, aiming to minimize dominant speaker influence (Fay et al., 2000). Discussions explored the PSTs’ perceptions of using reflective blogs in BL, addressing questions about blogging experiences, benefits, and challenges. Each session lasted 60 min, followed by a 10 min summary.
• Reflective blog posts: A total of 528 blog posts, exceeding the required 510, were analyzed, with an average length of 108 words. Comments (94% of the required 510) were excluded from the analysis due to brevity (average of 10 words). Blogs provided insights into the PSTs’ experiences, supporting this study’s focus on their “voice” (Mitra, 2004) and enhancing trustworthiness (Carcary, 2009).
• TE’s reflections: three TEs, two of whom were the researchers, reflected individually on integrating blogs into the course, followed by a group discussion to share their insights.

3.4. Data Analysis

Guided by Strauss and Corbin’s (1990) theoretical framework, the analysis proceeded in two stages: (1) An inductive–emic approach: Thematic analysis (Braun et al., 2019; Richards, 2009) was applied to focus group transcripts, identifying shared patterns of meaning. Initial exploratory analysis involved reading transcripts as a whole, anonymizing the PSTs (e.g., PST-a), and organizing the data. The TEs’ reflections were similarly anonymized (e.g., TE-a). (2) A deductive–etic approach: Themes from the inductive phase were refined by analyzing the blogs and the TEs’ reflections (Fife & Gossner, 2024). The blogs from the focus group participants were renamed to match their codes (e.g., blog-a), while other PST blogs were coded numerically (e.g., PST-1 post 9).

To ensure reliability, an external rater evaluated the agreed-upon themes, achieving 90% intercoder agreement (Cohen, 1960).

4. Results

Data analysis yielded four major themes that were common in the PSTs’ and TEs’ perspectives of integrating blogs into BL: (1) keeping learning sequential, (2) supporting self-directed learning, (3) keeping a sense of a learning community, and (4) increasing motivation and critical thinking. Nevertheless, both groups assigned unique roles to blogging in BL. For the TEs, integrating blogs supported a sense of control, revealed the PSTs’ misconceptions, and modeled teaching in BL, while the PSTs indicated that the blogs increased or decreased self-confidence during BL.

4.1. Keeping Learning Sequential

Eight focus group PSTs described how reflecting in the blog helped them maintain sequential learning by connecting the F2F and distance sessions. Posting in the blog prompted them to recall previous lessons and think critically about connections between meetings. One PST noted the following:

“Posting encouraged me to think of connections between the F2F and distance meetings. While TEs referenced past content in F2F, I had to actively make those connections during online sessions” [PST-b].

The blog also supported memory retention, particularly during the distance module. For example, one PST shared the following:

“I posted about ideas I wanted to remember, which helped me recall F2F content and prepared me to discuss it with the TE or with peers in the following session” [PST-g].

This role of the blog was evident in 37 posts where PSTs summarized key session content, such as “Today, the meeting focused on Bloom’s Taxonomy” or “The asynchronous lesson included a video about goals in curriculum planning”. Posts often connected meeting design, highlighting how sessions built on each other, such as the following:

“The asynchronous session on the education system was followed by an F2F discussion on political movements and their impact on education” [PST-35].

In the classroom meeting [F2F], the TE taught us about the types of goals in curriculum planning. During this asynchronous meeting, we were asked to identify the goals in the curriculum related to our own subject expertise and share our opinions on them [PST-27 post 5].

In total, 37 blog posts were related to the sequence between the course contents learned in the two modules. These realizations were usually reflected starting with the fourth meeting, for example:

This is our sixth lesson in the course, and I’ve noticed that our lessons are based on previous ones. The TE provides us with a preview of the topic in the previous lesson, and in the following lesson we elaborate and understand it more deeply [PST-51 post 6].

Only nine blogs were related to the linkages between the meetings and other college-based courses.

Data analysis revealed that similar to the PSTs, albeit with a more instrumental perspective of the sequence, the TEs perceived the blog in BL as one tool for posting reflections on a course meeting be it F2F or distance. The idea was that reflections would be presented in a sequence and as such would emphasize for the PSTs the sequence of the course meetings. In this regard, the TEs perceived the blogs as supporting learning sequentially between meetings to ensure continuous meaningful connections across the learning process. Additionally, the three TEs shared the perception of the significance of the linkages between course meetings to avoid the PSTs “getting lost”. In this regard, the TEs tended to open the F2F meeting by “sharing posts related to the F2F or online assignment?” (TE-b); or to provide the PSTs assignments that “utilize distance learning for exercising the contents taught F2F” (TE-a); or “to analyze practical examples for theories taught F2F, or to analyze examples from the practicum field with relation to the contents taught in the distance module” (TE-c), and post reflections on these meeting in the blog. In other words, it appears that the TEs shared the perception that the blog may support BL through reflecting on meetings that were designed to sustain content and pedagogy sequences. The PSTs’ blogs reflected this intensity to keep the sequence of learning. One PST realized while reflecting in the blogs that a “task that connects the components [of BL] and maintains continuity—allowing for deeper understanding—is important for a valuable and meaningful course [PST-18 post 6]. One may assume that her insight was from her own learning experience. However, it is possible that reading the other PSTs’ blogs that refer to the connection and sequence aspects of the course supported this realization.

In this regard, two of the three TEs also perceived sequence in the sense of having some control over the learning process in the context of BL. According to those TEs, the reflective blog assisted them in tracking PSTs’ learning process. The reflective blog helped tracking PSTs’ challenges or misconceptions as well as their evaluation of the relevance of the course meetings and their extent of interest in them. Their evaluation was found to be important to the TEs, especially concerning the meetings of the online module, as two TEs described in their reflections:

It is important to me to see if the learning was meaningful if they enjoyed the assignment and felt that it was contributing to them. In the F2F meetings, I can see in their body reactions their interest in what I teach. I can see if they are with me or if I lost them, I could see their hands-on learning. I cannot see this in the distance meetings. So, reading their reflective blog provides me with a kind of a clear picture of how their distance learning was [TE-b].

In the distance learning week, I always think- is the assignment I have given them clear enough? Do they need me and are too embarrassed to approach me? Is the connection between the assignment and what they have learned till now clear to them? [TE-a].

TE-b also considered the importance of discussing online meetings with the PSTs in the F2F meeting as part of modeling a positive classroom climate and openness. This perception of sequence as control and modeling was reflected positively in 22 blog posts.

4.2. Supporting Self-Directed Learning

Data analysis revealed that the BL course design required competencies of self-directed learning from the PSTs. In this regard, the analysis revealed that the reflective blog assisted in developing and promoting such competencies. First, there was evidence that the process of posting reflections supported the PSTs’ self-awareness and their understanding of their learning process, including their challenges and needs in the unique context of BL. For example, two PSTs from the focus groups found the blog in BL to be a catalyst for elaborating their learning process outside the assignments’ frames. These PSTs described delving deeper into areas of interest related to the course meeting to articulate their understanding of concepts and ideas while enriching their blog post:

I enjoyed reflecting on the distance meeting. Prior to posting a reflection, I used to read more about the scholars, theories, or concepts that were introduced in the online assignment to see if I understand the whole picture before posting. I think it [the need to post in the blog] motivated me to understand the ideas and theories more deeply before posting on them. [PST-i]

The PSTs related to the blog as supporting self-directed learning regarding receiving feedback throughout their BL learning. All the PSTs who participated in the focus groups pointed out that reading the blog posts of their peers functioned as feedback for them and allowed them to evaluate if they understood the material learned in both components of BL:

Reading others’ [PSTs] posts, I could see if I understood correctly the focus of the video we were asked to watch or the article we were asked to read. [PST-f]

It gave me a lot of confidence in my learning when I realized [from reading peers’ posts] that I understand the theory or the assignment and that I am on the same page with other students. [PST-g]

However, it is worth noting that three PSTs reported that reading peers’ blog posts, especially regarding online meetings, undermined their confidence, making them question their understanding of the material or the instructions for the assignment. Similarly, the TEs thought the blog provided valuable feedback and helped them gauge how the meetings were perceived. For example, TE-c noted, “Seeing that most PSTs found the asynchronous meeting enriching made me feel I was on the right track”. TE-a added, “I learned a lot from posts evaluating online assignments, such as feedback on video length or task complexity, which helped me adjust or discuss these assignments during F2F meetings”.

Five focus groups of PSTs highlighted the blog’s ability to reflect multiple perspectives. PST-c explained, “I discovered other students interpreted the article differently, which I found interesting”. The TEs agreed that BL required scaffolding for self-directed learning, particularly in online tasks, and felt the blog supported this by fostering peer feedback. By integrating blogs into BL, the TEs modeled the functionality of tools for self-directed learning and reflection.

Forty blog posts mirrored how blogging supported comprehension and multi-perspective learning. For example, PST-34 wrote, “Reading and responding to the material made it more ingrained. Seeing other students’ responses helped deepen my understanding”. Additionally, 54 blog posts emphasized the blog’s role in enhancing critical thinking. PST-27 shared, “Reading critical posts encouraged me to think more deeply and not take content at face value. F2F discussions further reinforced this by highlighting such posts and promoting critical reflection”.

4.3. Keeping a Sense of a Learning Community

Four focus group PSTs described the blog as a platform connecting the F2F and online modules of the BL course, fostering a “sense of course for groups of PSTs that still learn together although not sitting in the same hall this week” [PST-g]. They used the blog to share thoughts, feelings, and challenges related to the course content, as exemplified by posts expressing frustration with course materials or agreement with peers’ reflections.

In 347 blog posts, plural language like “Today we learned about…” indicated a sense of community, though feelings and insights were mostly shared individually. In five posts, PSTs reflected on their peers’ emotions, such as observing discomfort during an F2F session on behaviorism [PST-19]:

Today’s F2F meeting on behaviorism was awkward. A feeling of discomfort spread throughout the classroom, and I saw how many students [PSTs] moved uncomfortably in their chairs. [PST-19 post 7]

The TEs also viewed the blog as a learning community, using it to reflect on their teaching and assess whether the course fostered a holistic and positive climate:

a space for ventilating my feelings regarding the contents or my learning process and thoughts. I felt that for me the blog is like being in the classroom [F2F meetings] where I can share feelings and thoughts. I think that I felt less isolated online when I posted on the blog or read other [PSTs’] posts. [PST-e]

Eight focus group PSTs valued the blog as a space for sharing feelings during online meetings, with one noting that it reduced isolation by mimicking the connection of F2F discussions [PST-e].

4.4. Increasing Motivation

All three TEs argued that they integrated blogs into BL to increase the PSTs’ motivation to learn. For the online module, the blog was perceived by the TEs as motivating the PSTs to fulfill learning assignments, which were characterized by the TEs as “being more passive or simple learning assignments”, such as reading an article or listening to a presentation. One TE described it as follows:

I felt that there are PSTs that may struggle with online meetings. If I just ask them to read the course materials in preparation for our next meeting they will not put effort into doing it. I used the blog to motivate them to read at least part of the material. I believe that reflecting on the blog encourages them to read or listen to materials I have uploaded and to be more prepared for the next meeting. [TE-c]

This quotation may also be related to the TEs’ use of blogs in BL as a “motivational trigger”. This prompt may refer to the times when the TEs started the F2F meetings by choosing one or two PSTs’ posts and discussing the relation of the insights reflected in them to the learning process online as well as to the learning in the F2F meetings. TE-b argued the following:

I love to read their posts each week and find treasures that I can share in the F2F meeting. Posts may act as triggers to discuss misconceptions or what will be the focus of the F2F meeting. I realized that there are PSTs who put effort into their posts so I will choose theirs to share.

This perspective of integrating blogs into BL to increase PSTs’ motivation was also reflected by five focus group PSTs. For example:

I invested a lot of thought when reflecting on the online assignment as I wanted the TE to share and discuss my post in the following [F2F] meeting. [PST-h]

5. Discussion

Higher education, including at teacher education institutions, continues to exhibit an increasing inclination toward a BL curriculum design while establishing it as the “new normal” (Cahapay, 2020). Given that BL comprises two primary components, F2F and online learning, there is a need to continue the exploration of how to harmonize the connection between these two modules (Graham et al., 2013).

The current study aimed to explore the potential of integrating blogs as digital tools to support the BL design of a college-based course. By analyzing PSTs’ focus group transcripts, PSTs’ blog posts, and TEs’ reflections, this study examined the perspectives of both PSTs and TEs on the use of blogs within BL. The findings suggest that reflective blogging can exemplify broader pedagogical principles that bridge the F2F and online components of BL, fostering meaningful and integrated learning experiences.

This study identified four overarching principles demonstrated through the use of blogs, which may also be applicable to other pedagogical tools and practices within hybrid learning contexts.

Overarching pedagogical principles:

5.1. Principle 1: Continuity in Learning

The first principle highlights the importance of creating harmony between the components of hybrid learning through continuity (see also Zhang, 2024). This principle emphasizes the need for learning experiences to flow seamlessly between F2F and online settings, regardless of the specific tool or method used. Continuity can manifest in various ways, including the following:

• A linear sequence: A chronological, step-by-step progression that connects different learning phases. For example, theory introduced in an F2F session might be reinforced, expanded, or translated into practice through an online activity, ensuring a clear and logical flow.
• A rhizomatic sequence: a branching, non-linear path where learners build on prior knowledge and experiences, promoting exploration, creativity, and critical thinking.
• A spiral sequence: iterative knowledge construction, where learners revisit concepts over time, adding depth and perspective with each iteration.
• Inter- and intra-content sequences: deepening understanding within a single topic (intra-content) or connecting knowledge across multiple areas (inter-content), fostering holistic learning.

These types of sequences reflect how continuity can be designed to support diverse learning goals and contexts using blogs or other pedagogical and digital tools.

5.2. Principle 2: Fostering Autonomous Learning

The second principle relates to heutagogy, which emphasizes learner autonomy and self-direction (Blaschke & Hase, 2019; Biberman-Shalev et al., 2023). Effective pedagogical tools in hybrid learning should encourage students to take responsibility for their learning and explore content independently. This principle is particularly evident in practices that allow learners to branch out, make connections, and engage in self-paced exploration. While this study demonstrated this principle through blogging, it underscored the broader need for tools that promote flexibility and personalization in learning. However, this study also revealed potential challenges, such as learners feeling discouraged when comparing their work with the work of peers. These findings highlight the importance of careful facilitation to ensure tools remain empowering and inclusive.

5.3. Principle 3: Building a Learning Community

The third principle emphasizes the potential for pedagogical digital-based practices to foster a sense of community among learners (Bizami et al., 2023). Hybrid learning tools should facilitate collaboration, mutual support, and shared learning experiences. For example, blogging was shown to provide an inclusive platform for shy students (Biberman-Shalev, 2018), allowing them to participate meaningfully in ways that might not occur in traditional F2F settings. This principle can be applied to other tools that promote collaboration and dialogue, offering opportunities for all learners to contribute and engage.

5.4. Principle 4: Reflectivity and Professional Development

The fourth principle, perhaps the most significant, underscores the importance of reflection in learning. Reflective practices enable learners to critically examine their experiences, develop deeper understanding, and connect learning to broader personal and professional contexts.

In this study, similar to Karpava’s (2023) findings, blogging illustrated the power of reflection to support the development of professional identities among PSTs. However, this principle extends beyond blogs and highlights the importance of incorporating reflective opportunities into BL design. For TEs, modeling reflective practices using various tools prepares future educators to adopt and adapt such practices in their classrooms, fostering a reflective teaching culture.

This study has several limitations. First, this research adopted a qualitative, exploratory methodology, and future studies should incorporate quantitative methods to assess attitudes across a larger and more balanced sample. In this regard, this study’s sample limits the generalizability of the findings, as only 11 out of the 51 PSTs enrolled in the course agreed to participate in the focus groups and all 11 were female. Additionally, the TEs who taught the BL course were also all females. Therefore, we suggest that future research should include male PSTs and TEs in order to achieve a more balanced sample. Another limitation pertains to the ecological context of this study. All participating PSTs had direct access to the necessary technology and the internet. However, our study did not assess the PSTs’ technological proficiency, which may have influenced how they engaged with the BL environment and their perceptions of the role of blogging within it. Although the blog was designed to be simple and user-friendly, individual differences in technological proficiency may still have affected the levels of participation, confidence, or depth of engagement. Therefore, we suggest that future research should examine PSTs’ technological competencies to better understand how technological skills may shape their experiences in BL contexts. Additionally, the TEs involved in this study held pre-existing positive opinions toward blogs as reflective tools, which may have influenced their perspectives, as reflected in the findings. Furthermore, the PSTs reflected on their BL through a communal blog. The use of personal blogs may reveal different aspects of blogging in BL (Biberman-Shalev, 2018) that were not explored in this study.

Lastly, although the PSTs were free to write their reflections in any format they preferred, one could argue that the instructions provided by the TEs for the reflection assignments may have influenced the contents and structures of the posts, thereby shaping the themes that emerged. If this is the case, TEs could use blogging instructions to harmonize connections between BL modules that reflect a variety of connections such as theory–practice, principles–exercise, or content–pedagogy consequences. These connections may also reflect the TEs’ perceptions of what they think should be put at the center of teacher preparation. The findings of this study illustrate how blogging can support the learning sequence within BL. However, TEs may also consider how blogging instructions (or those of other digital tools) and course design can promote other ways of harmonizing BL, such as relevance, consistency, layers, and engagement, which may better reflect the TEs’ teacher training perceptions.

The primary conclusions of this study suggest that blogging within BL can support both TEs’ teaching and PSTs’ learning processes. A blog may serve as an intermediary space in the sense that it provides TEs with a platform to maintain pedagogical, social, and curricular continuity. For PSTs, it creates an intermediary space for fostering reflective thinking on the processes of connecting the BL modules—connections that are both prompted by the TEs and generated by the PSTs during the learning process.

Policymakers and stakeholders advocating for BL as a post-COVID-19 curricular change must continue to explore the technologies and pedagogies that facilitate the alignment of teaching and learning in this context. To advance this professional discourse, TEs should model their curricular considerations for PSTs by posing reflective questions such as the following: What are the teaching and learning objectives of activating a specific technology within BL? What are the benefits and potential drawbacks of using a particular digital tool? How does the chosen digital tool address the diverse needs of both the teacher and students? How do the pedagogies employed in each BL component promote the integration of face-to-face and online elements?

6. Conclusions

Blogging in BL may act as a middle space that supports the learning sequences of F2F and online modules of BL while simultaneously enhancing the agency of PSTs and TEs. This study highlights four overarching pedagogical principles—continuity, autonomy, community, and reflection—that are essential for effective hybrid learning design. While these principles were demonstrated through blogs, they are broadly applicable to other pedagogical tools and practices. By focusing on these principles, educators can create hybrid learning environments that are flexible, inclusive, and reflective, supporting both learners and educators in achieving meaningful outcomes. Future research should further explore these principles across diverse contexts, tools, and learner populations, ensuring they remain robust and adaptable in an ever-evolving educational landscape.

The main conclusion of this study is that in adopting BL in a course design, TEs should think of the curriculum design of the course and the pedagogical and technological platforms that may support PSTs’ learning process in both modules of BL.