New Zealand Bridge Teaching and Learning Committee

Newsletter 1 June 2023

The newly formed Teaching and Learning Committee has met four times, and is making good progress towards accommodating online platforms into our overall offerings. The major request that we have had from clubs is to put in place an online facility where learners can go and replay hands from the NZ Bridge lessons, either on their own or under supervision. This is our top priority. We have met with Shireen Mohandes from RealBridge with a view to setting this up. While the technology for this is already in place on RealBridge and some other platforms, we need to sort through matters of access, resourcing and protection of intellectual property. We have also made contact with the Education and Development section of the English Bridge Union, who are in the early stages of putting online facilities in place. It may be possible to enter into some kind of contractual arrangement with them.

A second task that we have undertaken is to review the existing NZ Bridge material. While this is a very extensive and invaluable resource for teachers, there are aspects that would benefit from a second look. To this end, we are circulating all clubs to get feedback on what their teachers and students think about this material. It is very clear from both our own experience and that of others that teaching bridge online presents very different challenges from the face-to-face environment. We may therefore need to provide additional resources for the latter.

Finally, we have touched on the issue of training and advice to teachers. One thing that is abundantly clear is that formal lessons are but one component of the development of new players. For this reason, we are exploring ways to assist clubs in developing an overall programme and strategy, from Beginners, Improvers and Intermediate lessons, through supervised/mentored play sessions, to induction into restricted and finally open club sessions, and then to competitive play. Again, units like the EBU already have such advice well established.

Douglas Russell

Chair, BNZ T&L Committee

T&L update July 2023

The Teaching and Learning Committee is making slow but steady progress on a number of fronts. We have located the required PBN files of all the NZ Bridge Beginners hands together with commentary, and we have verified that they can be loaded onto the RealBridge site. We shall shortly put in place times that learners can go and replay these hands together with others, probably with supervision.

We have investigated what other bridge organisations are doing with online teaching, principally the English Bridge Union. While they have a lot of material, we feel that what we currently have is as comprehensive as anything anywhere else. However, they do have some very useful guides and advice for teachers. One outfit that has impressed the Committee is the NoFearBridge web site, and that looks like a good model for developments for us. In particular, they start with a few sessions using the MiniBridge approach – this involves playing contracts before starting on the complex journey of bidding.

We shall soon start on the detailed task of preparing a robust online teaching programme, as well as reviewing the current NZ Bridge material – the two tasks are best approached side by side. To this end, we shall be looking to appoint a paid contractor/consultant, who will operate under the direction of the Committee. We will be preparing a remit for this position, and will be inviting expressions of interest. Several individuals and clubs have already initiated online programmes, and we shall be trading on their experiences.

Finally, in the past NZ Bridge has held an annual Teachers Conference at various venues around the country. We are looking to revive this, probably in November.