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No takers on the blended pistol course. Multiple takers on my "Introduction to Handguns" course which shares a lot with the now defunct NRA First Steps course.

I used to pitch them equally.

But the additional time required kills interest in the new course more than cost. Now, I mention the blended class only as an afterthought. I don't list them on the NRA site either, but should.

I've started going through the student e-learning program. It's good, but the thing that surprised me is the length; 6.5 ~ 7 hrs to complete. The instructor portion, lesson plan and shooting qualification, alone, is a minimum of 5 hrs.

We all know the hassles of getting students to commit to a class. Usually, it takes money up front to deliver them to your doorway. I wonder what the 'bail-out' rate will be between student self study segments and the instructor led portion.

Plus, it's a whole new thing to sell students on. "Yes, I'd be more than happy to teach you basic pistol. First, you've got to commit a full day, or several days if you break it into chunks, of sitting in front of your computer...." And, you've got to have that done before we have class on X date.

Yes, got the same email but haven't read through it yet. Communication, such a good idea.

Is there any word on what NRA is going to charge to students for it?

Other than the Phase II lesson plan, and some bland pronouncements from 2014, there's been little communication from the otherwise excellent NRA Training division about what's to come, how much it will cost, or if instructors will be able to get a look at it.

You can read some pretty interesting comments on NRA's own blog here, after the article:

http://www.nrablog.com/articles/2015/11 ... -programs/

You could try contacting your training counselor to see what they've heard, or even call the training division directly. Please report back any details learned.

I tried to find out as much as I could when they 86'd the NRA FIRST Steps class for pistol (and they're going to kill off the rifle and shotgun first steps too). All I found googling 'blended learning' was a lot of unhappy instructors.

I'm keeping an open mind (or at least trying to) about the future of the program, but NRA isn't helping itself running silent on this.