Our research shows that most EBU clubs offer face-to-face teaching. This is excellent for all sorts of reasons, such as strong communication with students, introduction to club premises, and hands-on experience with boards and bidding boxes.
That said, online teaching also has unique advantages, such as the following (from Winchester Bridge Club)
- Reach people unable to travel or who live beyond our normal catchment area
- Easily present slides and videos (no set up or screen needed)
- Easily play/replay hands in front of the whole group
- Split into playing at tables with a single click and then back to plenary
- At the table players can talk freely via video link without risk of distracting other tables
- Supervisors at the table can easily take back bids or cards, or reset the bidding, or reset the play, or both. Players can be swapped around with a click
- Double dummy analysis is available to supervisors at any time and to players on completing a board
- Gentle duplicate online provides for card by card playback of every board which can be reviewed later
- Run short sessions without people feeling that they’ve travelled so need a longer session to make it worth it
- Upload PBN files to match lessons or to review past sessions
The above are all used by the club though different online platforms have different features. Some teachers use a hybrid approach such as combining an online bridge platform with Zoom conferencing.