Traditional Methods of Teaching Genealogy
I am no pedagogical expert, so you professional teachers, please bear with my simplifications here. There are several standard paths by which we teach genealogical methods and skills. By methods, I mean learning what to do for genealogical research - the overall process of the detective work we call genealogy. By skills, I mean learning how to do particular aspects of genealogical research such as interviewing relatives, deciphering old handwriting or operating a microfilm reader. While learning styles vary among individuals, some or all of the following are usually involved in the education of a competent genealogist:
- One-on-one instruction with an experienced tutor.
- Attending classes, workshops, and conferences.
- Reading books about genealogical methods, skills, and record types.
- Refreshing our skills through practice and by assisting or instructing others.
The genealogical community does try to emulate these traditional forms of instruction on the Internet. In place of the face-to-face instruction of a tutor or attending a live conference, we have online classes with instructors who give direct advice to students via e-mail or chat (see the National Institute for Genealogical Studies at http://www.genealogicalstudies.com/eng/gstudies.html, the Digital University at http://www.digitaledu.com/courses/social/SLGN01.html, and Bellevue Community College at http://at-campus.net/bccsched/index.html?print=/bccsched/output/course_6574.htm). In place of reading books, we have online courses which provide web pages of instructions without instructor intervention (see the National Genealogical Society's Introduction to Genealogy at http://www.ngsgenealogy.org/Courses/Course.cfm and Brigham Young University's Finding Your Ancestors at http://ce.byu.edu/is/famhist/secure/title.htm) and hundreds of web pages giving information about accessing and using specific record types (see the Ogilby Trust's Brief Guide to Tracing Ancestors in the British Army at http://www.armymuseums.co.uk/intro.htm) or for specific locations (see the Sibley County Minnesota Nine Step Program at http://www.genealogy.history.sibley.mn.us/). Finally, opportunities abound for experienced researchers to help "newbies" in genealogy on mailing lists and other forums simply by answering their questions.
Are We Being All That We Can Be?
Clearly then, we use the Internet for genealogical education. But are we using the Web to it's best effect to do this? I would argue that we are not. Genealogical education is not harnessing the full power of the Internet to effectively teach the hundreds of thousands of new enthusiasts whose first contact with genealogy is the Internet itself. These are folks who would never attend a traditional class or conference but still have a desire to learn more about their family's history. The genealogical community looses overall when we fail these potential learner. We are enriched by every new person who learns good research methodology and effective genealogical skills. We are poorer when these folks aren't learning the right way to do genealogy.Rather than curse the darkness, let's discuss some of the bright candles lighting the way towards improvements in teaching genealogy online. These web sites tend to use the strengths of the Internet to the advantage of the education process instead of simply trying to replication traditional teaching methods in a new medium. I'll review what I see as their strengths (and a few weaknesses) below.
What are the Internet's strengths for education which we should be finding in such sites? Here are a just a few. The Internet facilitates self-paced instruction very well. It can accommodate immediate feedback to the learner thus providing a high level of interactivity. Learning via the Web can incorporate text, graphics, audio, and video to assist a variety of learning styles. Finally, the Internet can be used for education with relatively little expense to reach a global audience. These are some of the things that an educational web site for genealogy should provide.
Guided Discovery
There is a genealogy web site titled "Genealogy - Free Advice for Effective Searches" at http://www.genealogy-search-advice.com/search/advice.htm. Think of one of your more basic research problems (perhaps one that you had when you first started genealogy and have since solved) and then follow the instructions given on the site. The web site will ask you to respond to a series of questions about your particular research problem. Based on your answers, it will differentially produce suggested ideas for where to look for the answer to your research dilemma.OK, I can hear your howls of protest already - this site is clearly a clever gimmick designed to get visitors to click through to commercial web sites in order to gain revenue from the various affiliate programs from which the web site owner profits. For just a moment, ignore the content of the results you obtained, the banner ads, and the pop-up windows and consider the elegance of this method of using the Web for genealogical education.
This is a classic example of guided discovery using one of the Internet's great strengths. Guided discovery uses a series of statements or questions which direct the learner, step by logical step, into making discoveries which lead to an answer. Performing functions, step by logical step, is almost the exact the definition of computer programming. Based on variable responses to questions (input), computers are ideal for deriving a logical selection amongst a series of pre-determined outcomes (output). By applying basic IF/THEN programming logic to typical genealogical research questions, developing a group of pre-determined answers, and front-ending the whole process with a Web interface, this web site has produced a marriage of genealogical education and technology made in heaven. Note in addition that the site provides the visitor with more than the ability to answer questions "yes" or "no". Click on the "Why ask?" button at any time during the questioning and a small pop-up window will provide a short answer as to why the particular document, date, or location is important to your research. This is a very effective way to teach methodology.
Now, back to the content. No, the suggested answers are not complete. No, the questioning process isn't completely logical. No, some of the advice given is not of the highest caliber. Yes, most of the suggested resources in the answers are affiliate-coded commercial links. No, I'm not endorsing the commercial web sites advertised on the site (some of them are sad little get-rich-quick schemes of dubious genealogical value). Even so, do you see the beauty within the beast? This web site has shown us all what can be done for online genealogical education.
What are the Internet's strengths for education which we should be finding in such sites? Here are a just a few. The Internet facilitates self-paced instruction very well. It can accommodate immediate feedback to the learner thus providing a high level of interactivity. Learning via the Web can incorporate text, graphics, audio, and video to assist a variety of learning styles. Finally, the Internet can be used for education with relatively little expense to reach a global audience. These are some of the things that an educational web site for genealogy should provide.
Other educational web sites for genealogy should take this as a good example and expand the idea. Most of a new learner's questions about how to approach genealogical research initially can be answered in such a fashion. And notice that real-time human intervention is not required? No human instructor is needed to guide a learner through these questions. Would it be perfect? Of course not. Each person's family history is as individual as they are. But some of the macro-level questions about genealogical methodology such as "How do I start?", "What should I look for first?", "Where do I find it?" can be very effectively answered in this manner. The questioning process also subliminally teaches genealogical research methodology while the visitor is focused on getting their research question answered.
This approach isn't exactly new to genealogy. The "Record Selection Table" of the LDS "Research Outlines" for various states and countries follows the logical IF/THEN model of teaching people genealogy. See FamilySearch Research Helps at http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Search/RG/frameset_rhelps.asp for some examples. This sort of guidance based on the nature of the research problem follows a simple format of "If you need: (type of research question)", "Look first in: (primary sources)", "Then search: (secondary sources)". Automating the process using the Web simply makes the technique more powerful.
Scribblers
The folks at DoHistory.com at http://www.dohistory.org/home.html have put up an excellent teaching web site, but not necessarily with genealogists in mind. Of particular power and beauty is what they have done with web technology for teaching students of history how to read old handwriting. First, have a look at their "Magic Lens" site at http://www.dohistory.org/diary/exercises/lens/index.html. Using a page from Martha Ballard's Diary (source for A Midwife's Tale) written in December of 1789, a java applet allows the visitor to move the "magic lens" over an image of the original document. As you move the "lens", a printed version of the same page is displayed over the manuscript page. A nifty trick of superimposing one graphic over another. But it's more than just cool coding. This is also an educational tool that helps visitors learn how to decipher old handwriting. DoHistory has further provided a web page where you can try transcribing individual words and lines of the same diary at http://www.dohistory.org/diary/exercises/tryTranscribing.html. Once the visitor has entered their transcriptions, the "Check your transcription" button provides the correct answers alongside the visitor-supplied answers. Talk about immediate feedback and interactivity! Of course, this is only one page of examples, but see what can be done? Why aren't genealogical web pages providing this level of instruction?Don't get me wrong, we do have a few good sites which provide instruction on reading old handwriting (see Scottish Handwriting at http://www.scan.org.uk/researchrtools/handwriting/scottishhandwriting.htm and Deciphering Old Handwriting at http://www.amberskyline.com/treasuremaps/oldhand.html). But these sites don't take advantage of technology to provide much more than static graphic examples of handwriting. Online forms for practicing the deciphering and real-time feedback are a much more effective way of learning the skill.
The skills we teach online needn't be as difficult to master as reading old handwriting either. Remember the first time you tried to thread a microfilm reader? Were you all thumbs and did the reel have travel plans of its own? Don't you wish you could have had some easy Web-based instructions available BEFORE you made a fool of yourself? Here's a Microfiche/Microfilm Reader-Printer Help web page at http://www.gl.iit.edu/govdocs/micro/micro.html. It uses keyword links to photographs to physically show the components, their location, and use on a particular brand of machine. Simple, but effective. Now imagine if it also included small video clips which actually demonstrated the various operations. Wouldn't viewing those clips a few times in the privacy of your own home help your confidence level in using a reader for the first time?
Click Here for Instructions
What else might we teach better on the Web? How about animated map graphics of how to walk a cemetery for recording purposes? Video clips on tombstone rubbing? Audio clips of how to interview a relative? Demonstrations with circles and arrows showing how to cite particular sources?We seem to be stuck in the text-only stage of genealogical education on the Web with just a light sprinkling of graphics. The technology is available to do much more. Only our imaginations are holding us back. If we ask ourselves "Why Johnny can't do genealogy?", the answer is that the genealogical community is not making the most of this wonderful tool called the Web. Don't like the fact that thousands of uneducated "surname hunters" are clogging up the Internet? Look in a mirror and ask yourself what have you done to advance their education on the Internet lately. We can do better by them.
Now THIS is more like it! - good educational sites I have found since writing this article
From the United Kingdom's National Archives, comes this guide to reading old handwriting. It covers English handwriting from the 1500s to the 1800s. Of particular interest is the online tutorial. It provides ten scanned original records giving the historical background of each and notes about its handwriting style. The great use of technology in the educational process are the transcription excercises. Line by line, you are asked to view the scanned image and type in your transcription of the text. The site then tells you how many words you got correctly and it underlines which ones you mis-transcribed. This is an example of how genealogical skills should be taught online.
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Updated February 13, 2005
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