The Covid-19 pandemic forced teachers and students to transform face-to-face teaching into virtual teaching. Digital platforms hinder the interaction, discussion, and feedback that naturally occur in a face-to-face classroom. However, at the same time, these platforms provide an opportunity to focus on student learning rather than on content delivery (Guinau & Furdada, 2021).

Many countries are currently undergoing changes and implementing improvements to their teacher-training curricula, having understood the importance and added value of e-training for future teachers. Pre-service teachers must be prepared to implement high-quality technology-enhanced, hybrid and online teaching in order to cultivate their future students’ digital literacy.           During the pandemic it became evident that organizations and sectors that succeeded in transitioning from a physical model of operations to an online one would be the only ones to survive this crisis. To serve all these needs, these organizations had to turn to a blended model which has been referred to as a ‘phygital’ mode of education (Chaturvedi et al., 2021). The term ‘Phygital’ refers to a combination of physical contexts or tangible objects and a digital or online technology-driven experience (Vate-U-Lan et al., 2016).  This new concept focuses on empowering both physical and virtual environments based upon online technology-enhanced experience. Phygital learning environments are efficient when people participating in the local processes gain a high level of skills.

It is reasonable to assume that student motivation and engagement are enhanced by regular and adequate challenges, if their basic requirements are sufficiently met

            The phygital environment is a virtual learning space that combines the physical space (college campus, school, classroom, library, etc.) and the synchronous and asynchronous digital media space (Zereu, 2021). According to Boim-Shwartz (2020), phygital space has pedagogical potential  that allows learners to:

• Explore experiences in digital environments similar to those they were accustomed to in the physical space.
• Have flexible classroom boundaries and maintain ubiquitous connections between students and teaching staff from different educational institutions.
• Combine areas of expertise and interests of different groups.
• Create new teaching and learning opportunities; among other things, the opportunity to ask questions, such as: What do you study? How do you learn? Who do you study with? What does a lesson look like? What is the role of the teacher?
• Become a role model for students and be able to develop a similar virtual-physical environment in their teaching in school.

During the pandemic restrictions, instructors in teaching colleges had to create learning environments for pre-service teachers, as per the requirements of teacher education programs and the conditions in which both colleges and schools had to operate (Carrillo & Flores, 2020). Our study presents an attempt to link a hybrid face-to-face/online teacher training program with an interactive phygital environment, thus providing a solution for students, pedagogical supervisors, and mentor teachers.

Our study analyzes a hybrid (blended: face-to-face/online) teacher training program that is supported by an interactive phygital environment, thus providing a solution for students, pedagogical supervisors, and mentor teachers.

The participants included 276 pre-service teaching students from two academic colleges of education, 24 pedagogical supervisors, and 223 mentor teachers from the schools. The students practice a phygital environment under the supervision of their college pedagogical supervisors and accompanied by their mentor teachers from the schools in which they are carrying out their practicum. .Interviews were held with policy makers in the Ministry of Education, and with supervisors in academic institutions who implement the practicum in the field. These interviews constituted the basis for the phygital environment used in the practicum. The phygital environment was created by technological experts who specialize in building virtual environments, in collaboration with experts in education and technology integration in learning who are responsible for both the pedagogical and technological aspects. The phygita environment (see figure 1 below) includes various areas such as: a) Library - The library includes theoretical materials divided by subject, and indicators for assessing lesson observation. b) Auditorium - lecture rooms (lectures by subject / academic field) including synchronous lectures. c) Workshop - preparation of learning materials, including lesson plans in various disciplines and lesson plans for online learning, guidance regarding classroom management, teacher-student relationship, and resolving conflicts in the classroom. d) Learning communities - a meeting place for college pedagogical instructors, in-service teachers (coaches), and pre-service teachers (students). Such communities promote ongoing communication and meaningful interactions to make collaborative learning successful (Azizah et al., 2021). e) Simulation room - a place where students and pedagogical supervisors can conduct simulations and receive feedback from college pedagogical supervisors, mentor-teacher-coaches, and peers. f) Cafeteria - for inter-personal communication and informal meetings. g) Collaborative board for the learning communities - a place to share ideas and learning materials.

The preliminary findings of the interviews revealed consistency between the policy makers and the supervisors who were in charge of the training in the academic institutions. These preliminary findings showed that policymakers and supervisors see the great need to combine an innovative training program that will create an academic learning environment in order to give teacher-students a more interesting, riveting, and interactive techno-pedagogy experience that is adapted to the 21st century characteristics. The interviews with the pedagogical supervisors and the mentor also revealed a need for a shared online space, indicating that the various areas within that space must cater to the needs of everyone involved. The unique features of the phygital spaces will make it possible to break through the walls of the classroom and the academic campus and integrate diverse methods of learning for diverse audiences. In the presentation, we will address the rational behind the various components of the phygital space. We will share the preliminary findings regarding the integration of the phygital environment, indicating the strengths and the challenges of this unique experience from the viewpoint of the participants. Moreover, based on learning analytics of participants’ behavior in the phygital environment, we will report which areas within the space use mostly by the teacher-students, mentor-teachers and pedagogical supervisors.

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