
Self-Defense Training on a Budget
Rob PincusDescription
Self-Defense Training on a Budget
The firearms and personal-defense training communities have realized that distance education is a valid way to reach more students. If you’re on a tight budget for self-defense training — whether that’s a free-time budget, an ammunition budget, or a financial budget — one of the ways you can enhance your ability to learn and your opportunity to make the most out of your time on the range is through distance education.
What Is Distance Education?
You may consider reading an article or watching a video here on PDN distance education. But taking a true distance education class, whether it’s through a university, through the personal defense classes from PDN Academy, or through any other professional resource is far more intense. It gives you the opportunity to learn in multiple modes: you may watch videos, listen to audio, download files to read, or reference books.
In many courses you take online quizzes or tests to verify you’ve retained the information presented in the course. You may also be able to participate in question-and-answer sessions with the course instructor and discussion sessions with your fellow students. These are all important because in a true learning environment, there needs to be some way to get and give feedback and have interaction between instructor and student.
Opportunities, Not Limits
Rob encourages you to think of self-defense training on a budget as not limiting you but instead opening up opportunities for you to find creative ways to gain an education.
Training on a budget is something that I've talked a lot about, both here at Personal Offense Network and in other places over many, many years, it's always a concern and the budget issue just isn't about money. It could also be about time. It could be about access to training. I want to address it in a little bit more updated version because now we offer distance education here at personal defense network and the firearms and personal offense training community has realized that distance education is a great and certainly very valid way to reach more and more students. If you're on a tight budget for training whether that is free time, budget or ammunition budget or of course a financial budget.
One of the ways that you can enhance your ability to learn and your opportunity to make the most out of your time on the range is through distance education. Now we could look at distance Education as something like this video that you're watching right now. Maybe it's an article that you read in a magazine. Maybe it's a DVD that you purchased from personal defense network or that you receive from the NRA four or five years ago. And you could pull off a shelf and watch again as a refresher, but taking a true distance education class whether it's through a college or university, through the personal defense network Academy or through any other professional resources something that's far more intense, it's something that's going to give you the opportunity to learn in multiple modes.
In other words, you're going to be able to watch a video. You may be able to listen to audio. You may be able to download some files or a reference, some books. Maybe they're going to send you to Amazon. And you're going to be able to go over there and buy a book and read it as part of your home study course, part of your distance education course.
In many situations there will also be the opportunity to take an online quiz or test to verify that you've actually retained the information that's been presented in the course. You also may have the opportunity to participate in question and answers with the professor or the instructor or just simply have discussions with the other peers that you're taking the class with. You know, one of the things that's often missing from a situation where you're just reading an article or watching a video, is that interaction. It's hard to know whether or not you're getting anything out of this video. Once I publish it to the internet and walk away.
And certainly I can go back to the comments. Maybe you're going to send me a private message or an email. Maybe you're going to ask the customer service department at personal defense network to help you understand something better. And I, as the educator can have some sense that you're paying attention and that learning is occurring and that we're trying to develop an understanding, but in most cases people just read the article or watch the video and move on in a true learning environment. If we're in a classroom or if we're providing distance education there has to be some way to get some feedback.
There has to be some way to interact. Now, the testing is a great way to do it. The followup Q and A's are a great way to do it. And of course, those peer discussion groups can also be a great way, where the educator isn't necessarily involved but you will get some satisfaction that your understanding is legitimate through your exchanges with other students. And of course you can do that right here in the comment sections of personal offense network as well.
So training on a budget can really mean a lot of things to a lot of people, but I want you to think about how training on a budget opens up opportunities for you to find creative ways to gain an education. Because again, I understand that that range time is incredibly valuable. I understand that the one-on-one time with an instructor or joining any kind of formal class takes a lot out of your budget, time and money. Jumping online, watching a video, having an interaction sending a private message to the instructor whether it's here at PDN or on any other website is probably a great way for you to get started, taking a formal distance education course. It's a great way to enhance and stretch your limited budget when it comes to learning some incredibly important things.
Very applicable discussion Rob! What do you recommend for online resources (of course PDN!)