Purpose: Online learning is developing rapidly in higher education. As a result, in the Initial Teacher Education Division at The University of Northampton, UK, academics have experimented with methods to embed blogs and online communities into courses to enhance learning for staff and students. The paper aims to discuss this issue. Design/methodology/approach: This paper critically analyses the approach used to examine media-rich multimodal content that was shared through these tools. Findings: The paper models how blogs and communities have enhanced interdisciplinary subject teaching, staff development and student engagement. This is achieved by sharing case studies from the courses which model the strengths and limitations of practices adopted. Originality/value: Focused discussion demonstrates how reflexivity, communities of practice and experimentation with technological teaching strategies fuel the learning that occurred.