Investigate your family history in online course
Genealogy techniques – including finding and analysing sources – will be among the themes explored in the Massive Open Online Course, offered in partnership with platform provider FutureLearn. The ‘Genealogy: Researching Your Family Tree’ course will be run by academics in the University’s Centre for Lifelong Learning (CLL).
Tips for carrying out detective work into your family history will be explored in a free online University of Strathclyde course.Genealogy techniques – including finding and analysing sources – will be among the themes explored in the Massive Open Online Course, offered in partnership with platform provider FutureLearn. The Genealogy: Researching Your Family Tree course will be run by academics in the University’s Centre for Lifelong Learning (CLL).
Tahitia McCabe, CLL-based Educator, said: “This free online course will help you develop an understanding of basic genealogy techniques and how to communicate your family history.
“We will consider how to effectively find and analyse sources and explore the potential of DNA testing as applied to genealogy. We’ll help you add historical context to your family history and discuss how to record and communicate research findings in a clear fashion.”
Learners on the course will discover the best methods for finding and storing family tree information.
Ms McCabe added: “We’ll get you to define what you want to research, and consider the best ways to go about finding and storing information on your family tree.
“One of the key challenges of genealogy – finding the right person among a number of possible candidates, with ever-changing spellings of surnames – will be considered.
“We’ll conclude by introducing the main types of tools genealogists use to communicate their research finds, including creating a family tree and look at how to write a meaningful family history.”
The six-week long course is designed to allow learners from across the world to investigate their family tree – and find out how to share their discoveries.
Ms McCabe said: “Throughout the course, you’ll follow the story of Chris, as she uncovers her own family history, and you’ll be encouraged to share sources and ideas particular to your area of genealogical interest and geographic focus.
“The course will not concentrate on a specific country’s records or how to source these, so it will be useful to anyone around the world. The knowledge you gain from this course may prompt you to explore family history research more deeply or consider a career as a professional genealogist.”
Those who wish to take their learning further will have the opportunity to find out more about the University of Strathclyde’s online MSc in Genealogical Palaeographic and Heraldic Studies.
Other free, online courses offered by Strathclyde – in partnership with FutureLearn – have included: Introduction to Forensic Science; Understanding Modern Business and Organisations; Caring for Vulnerable Children; and Introduction to Journalism. The development of these courses has been supported by the University’s Learning Enhancement team.
FutureLearn was created in December 2012 as the UK's first provider of free, high-quality Massive, Open, Online Courses. Its partners and course providers comprise leading UK and international universities and cultural institutions including the British Library, British Museum and British Council.
For further information on the course, which starts on 14 March, visit the Genealogy: Researching Your Family Tree website: https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/genealogy.
(With thanks to Lachlan MacKinnon)
Chris
For details on my genealogy guide books, including A Decade of Irish Centenaries: Researching Ireland 1912-1923, Discover Scottish Church Records (2nd edition), Discover Irish Land Records and Down and Out in Scotland: Researching Ancestral Crisis, please visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html. My Pinterest account is at https://www.pinterest.com/chrismpaton/.
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