This year I have been taking a certificate course in genealogy andsocial history.
This year I have been taking a certificate course in genealogy and social history. It has been an adventure and also lots of work. As the year came to a close and final projects were turned in and oral presentations were given, I looked back on what I learned. My biggest takeaway - we don't know as much as we think we do with our genealogy.
Many of us have done genealogy for years and it really took looking at my family group sheets, pedigree charts, and reports with "new eyes" to find answers to questions I should have been asking long before this course. Focusing on one family for a limited period of time and filling in gaps both with records and historical information was a continual process of finding one answer and having three more questions pop up.
What was a huge help was being able to print out charts, group sheets, and reports and in this my Legacy software has been my saving grace. Of course it is a great piece of software (otherwise we would not be here) but it also requires using it:
1. entering the data
2. using timelines to fit our families in their times and places
3. taking advantage of research assistance and making those to-dos (and then following up and doing the research)
4. printing out reports
5. reading through them with a critical eye and asking the hard questions - do I have proof for that, can I get a second and third source, do I need to rethink what I thought I knew.
A big help for me was giving my reports, timelines, and group sheets to fellow students and my instructors and getting feedback. If you have a genealogist friend (or even an interested non-genealogist) take advantage of those "new eyes." They often have great ideas for further research.
Tuesday's Tip is to take advantage of the great features and tools in Legacy to print out those group sheets and reports and focus on a family - get to know them better, find their records and documents, put them in their time and place with social history, and then write up their story and share it with family. I know for my part, I have just scratched the surface with James Murphy and Ellen Kiley's story. Using Legacy has been a real help and I will be continuing this project to get "the rest of the story."
What charts and reports do you use in Legacy? How have you customized them to get the best use? How many (if any) of your nuclear families have you focused on in-depth? Who do you most want to learn more about and how and when will you get started?
Congratulations Tessa Keough ! That sounds like a lot of work, but so worth it. Glad you were able to accomplish such a worthwhile goal.
ReplyDeleteI have focused on several of my ancestral families in depth, but as we all know, we have many more than several!
I really feel like I get to know my ancestors when I research them in depth (more than just census and vital records, like I used to do as a beginner).
A well documented Family Group Record is foundational and I also really like the Chronology report to see gaps of records and the timeline of a person's life.
Congrats Tessa Keough. Well done!!
ReplyDeleteThanks Monique Riley and Carol Stevens - what are your Summer genealogy plans?
ReplyDeletePurge! Purge! Purge!! Give away or sell lots of genie books and resources from the county I live in. I no longer will be doing research for free or fee here. It is time to focus on input, purge, input, purge. Age and health issues making us re-evaluate. I ain't gettin no younger! ;-)
ReplyDeleteI am currently doing a Diploma of Family History which is being run by an Australian University. They are offering 4 Units free of charge, and 4 paid units. It has been quite challenging, but even after 30 odd years of genealogy, I have learnt heaps of new stuff. It's quite amazing. I just finished the second unit today, and the third unit starts on the 27th. So I get a short break!
ReplyDeleteJohn H agreed, I have learned so much from the other students and really made use of the resources mentioned by the instructors. We can always learn new things and it helps us so much with our genealogy. Great to hear about your course - like the idea of both free and paid for courses. Enjoy your break and let us know more about how the courses are taught - breakdown of what you are learning and how you are applying it in Legacy.
ReplyDeleteThis summer I am just hoping to grab a few minutes here and there between other life events and commitments!
ReplyDeleteWe are expecting a new grand baby in the new couple of weeks, so I will travel and spend time with my daughter and help her with her other two little children. My youngest is getting married in August, so I have planning to do for that.
I volunteer at a Family History Center about 5-6 hours a week and also do some client research.
I do enjoy watching webinars and staying current on the latest genealogy news.
We are farmers, so that keeps up running all summer.
So, Tessa Keough like I said, I will have to steal some genealogy moments when I can as I am mostly working on the living this summer!
The Family History Diploma I am doing is run entirely online. More information here:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.utas.edu.au/arts/diploma-of-family-history
The course has proved extremely popular. Over 1200 students enrolled for the Convict Ancestors Unit that I have just finished. Of course being free helps! Some people may only do one Unit, or just the 4 free Units. Others like me are going to try and do the full Diploma.
The course materials are contained in weekly modules, designed to build on the previous week. There is reading material, videos of lectures from the teaching team, and other resources to aid us in finding information. A Unit is generally around 6 weeks. In the just completed unit it was 6 weeks spread over 8 weeks. We got 2 weeks break in the middle to research the Convict ancestor we had to write our final assignment about.
Assessment mostly consists of weekly quizzes, which you are allowed to attempt as many times as you like to improve your score, and a final assignment. In this last unit, we had a transcription exercise (learning how to read old documents) worth 10 points, 4 quizzes @ 10 points each, and the final assignment worth 50 points. Currently I am sitting on 43 points out of 50. I wont get my final mark for the assignment until end of the month.
In the previous unit, Intro to FH, we also had a component worth 20 points based on our participation on the Group Dicusssion Boards. You had to meet a quota of starting new threads, and replies to other students threads.
In the Intro Unit, our final assignment was to write a Research Plan for one of our problems/brick walls etc. We were required to state the problem, discuss what we had done, what records we'd looked at etc, then formulate a plan to move forward, again what we proposed to do, what records we would look at etc. We had to include a Family Group Sheet of the ancestor, and a snippet of the tree where he/she fits in the picture. I also included a time line for my guy. This was a very interesting exercise as my research is often hit or miss, with no real plan. Just doing the time line alone, revealed all sorts of new things to me! The other component of this final assignment, was to include a Reflection Statement. Now this was very challenging. It is some new fangled thing that Universities around the world have introduced into their learning. And it caused a lot of angst for many of us. BUT it challenges you to look at yourself, reflect on the learning journey, and what you have learnt.
In this just completed Convict Unit, we had to write a non-fiction story about a convict ancestor. If we did not have an convict ancestor, we could "borrow" a convict to write about. Australian convicts are among the most documented people in the world. Almost every move they made was written down by the Colonial masters! So on the face of it, research for this was not overly difficult. Basically we were to trace the person from their home in the UK, their crime and trial, sentencing and transportation to Australia, and then their life in the new colony. My convict was involved in the "Swing Riots" of the 1830's. After he got his free pardon, he went on to become a successful citizen. The assignment needed to contain extracts from documents, pictures if possible, background material, eg conditions at the time, etc. We had to try and paint a picture of the person if you like. We were set 750-1000 words! Many of us could have almost written a book!
As Tessa says, learning from the other students is invaluable. Everyone has so much to contribute about new resources, places to look for information etc. The discussion boards were fantastic resources. Ask a question, and a wealth of information would come back to you. The only problem was the sheer volume of the boards. It was impossible to read everything.
ReplyDeleteI have a ton of new information to enter into Legacy now!
In addition to this course, I have also enrolled for a free University of Strathclyde course coming up in July through Futurelearn. A friend completed this last month and she enjoyed it. Still open for those interested. Focus is on UK Genealogy.
https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/genealogy