Caitlin

Fred, I love your ideas and would be delighted to participate in this process as would Linda Lee. We have discussed this. BBO facilities for teaching are wonderful. We can upload specific hands tailored to the topic we are teaching; we can use the partnership bidding; we can become online TDs and do private tournaments with pre-dealt hands as Gowdy and I do for our 2/1 group. I have also found the support staff terrific in helping me from the start, especially Chas_P (Charles) and an ACBL director, Jacki. When I have emailed support@, I get prompt, helpful information as well. I do think teachers online should pay a percentage to BBO. Right now I try to support the site by ensuring my students purchase books from Bridge Base, if they can find them there. I always recommend Bridge Master 2000, often starting with Audrey Grant's version as I teach mainly novices. And at Bridge Forum we are always delighted to give BBO prime time P.R.! However. with the world recession, teaching is not as productive as it once was so I wonder how many can actually make their living teaching online. Regardless, a percentage would make sense to me. I just don't know what the % should look like. So how to accredit teachers? We are talking about so many from so many different countries. We would need to look at the various accreditation processes where they are available. But having taken the ACBL accreditation many years ago, I don't think involving the ACBL to do online accreditation is enough. Do you simply play with a student, give some feedback and leave it at that? To my way of thinking, that is insufficient. How about sending your student more comprehensive notes on topics that arose during that session? Also, when you advertise are you being realistic about what you are really capable of teaching? There are so many issues involved but I believe a solid committee could work through all these various criteria. I am so pleased to see feedback on my initial post and the ideas from Fred and others who have responded. Keep them coming!

A group of highly acclaimed bridge teachers and I are increasingly concerned that everyone and his/her grandmother can now present themselves as bridge teachers. Let me first say that I do NOT claim to be an expert but after 11 years of teaching online, with accreditation by the ACBL (if that matters or not), I am confident about teaching novices/low intermediates with whom I love to work with. I am also proud that teachers with Bridge Forum (www.bridge-forum.com) are picked not only by me, but by my colleagues. Each has his/her own area of expertise, whether it be Larry Mori (larrymori) John Gowdy (Gowdy) or George Mittelman (mittmouse), all truly World Class players who can teach any level of bridge. But what about those who claim to be what they are not and lead students astray? How does the student know this? And does being a World Class player automatically make you a good teacher? Should there be some accreditation process? I raise these questions, hoping for a fruitful discussion. Caitlin