Tandem Bicycle Model (TBM): A Pedagogical Hybrid Model for Teaching and Learning Management in the Post-pandemic Era

The COVID-19 pandemic affected the education sector, forcing the implementation of synchronous and asynchronous modes as alternatives for on-site face-to-face teaching and learning modes. It was a rapid shift for academic institutes that did not have the necessary preparation process. Creative arts-dedicated universities, which comprise a larger proportion of practical components in their degree programmes, have been challenged under the ‘new norms’. Former ‘benchmarks’ became problematic in the absence of technological pedagogical and content knowledge (TPACK) of teachers, distance mode-oriented subject contexts, required resources, evaluated educator and learners' needs, technological assistance, suitable learning environment, and necessary support. These essential requirements must be managed strategically as they are economically, politically, and behaviourally entwined. This research employs the inductive analysis of teaching and learning practices, including those at the University of the Visual and Performing Arts in Colombo during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, comparing them with the prominent theoretical models in hybrid teaching and learning. This article proposes a conceptual model for multimodal teaching and learning of educational journey: the Tandem Bicycle Model (TBM), which is positively function in an eco-system responding to seven thematic aspects.