Intermediate Electives

Optional Print Course Material: Research: New Zealand Ancestors

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

This course provides a detailed description of how to research ancestors in New Zealand. Learn about the historical background as well as records such as births, deaths and marriages, wills and cemetery records, immigration and naturalisation, military records and other archives held by government and non-government institutions. In the absence of census records, learn how to use census substitutes such as electoral rolls, directories and newspapers. 

Course Length: 7 weeks

Optional Print Course Material: Personal Historian: Oral History and Interviewing Techniques

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

A personal historian uses oral history interview techniques to interview individuals about their lives or those of their family. Combining the interview, research, and additional items like photographs and documents, a personal historian can create a beautiful story for a client. This course will discuss the things you need to know before specializing in oral histories, how to prepare for and conduct an interview, and what can be done with all the materials. Finally, we will learn how to put everything together and preserve these priceless histories. 

Course Length: 7 weeks

Optional Print Course Material: Personal Historian: Video Techniques

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

This course is designed to introduce the basics of audio-video production for personal historians and genealogists, that is, people who want to use current digital audio and video tools to record, edit and share life stories. Audio-video productions encompass four phases of work: pre-production, production, post-production and delivery. This course is structured along these four phases.  

Students with any level of audio-video experience, including those who are beginners, can learn from this course. There is great depth and variety to the practice of video biography. This course will help you build your skills and savvy. 

Course Length: 7 weeks

Optional Print Course Material: Planning a Research Trip to Scotland

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

Traveling to your ancestor’s hometown can be exciting and scary! The possibility of breaking brick walls, finding never-before-seen records, and walking in your ancestor’s footsteps is beyond exciting. But if you haven’t traveled internationally or aren’t sure where to start, planning such an adventure can be overwhelming. 

In this course we will explore what you need to do in order to plan and execute your ancestral travel to Scotland. We will discuss how to prepare for your trip and plan for research, and repositories you will want to visit.

Course Length: 6 weeks

Optional Print Course Material: Connecting Family: Online and Virtually

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

Computers and the Internet have revolutionized the way families communicate. This course will highlight a few specific ways to use your computer and the Internet to build and strengthen family ties. Topics will include using multimedia techniques to preserve and share family photographs, building an online family tree, creating virtual family history tours/videos, creating online family newsletters, digitizing scrapbooks, publishing an online family history and creating and maintaining family websites, using communication tools such as Skype, and using social media (blogs, Facebook, and Twitter) to find long lost cousins and stay in touch with relatives.

Optional Print Course Material: Electronic Resources: Organize and Publish a Family Tree

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

This course is designed to give students a wide view of genealogical organization systems available. Geared toward making a sound decision and investment in one’s genealogical software, this course will include cloud-based systems, online trees, desktop software, as well as a brief survey of alternative programs and systems for organizing and displaying genealogical research. 

Optional Print Course Material: Google for the Wise Genealogist

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

Everyone knows that Google is a powerful search engine, but for genealogists Google provides so much more. This course will explore Google programs and how they can be used to research family history. You will be introduced to a variety of Google products, how to navigate those products and specifically how to use them to further your genealogical research. Google provides free software, digitized books and articles, mapping, access to newspapers, translation tools and more. Learn how to use Google for finding information, creating and sharing documents, groups, websites and blogs as well as using it to map your ancestors. Learn about popular Google products like Google search, Google Maps and Google Books as well as the not so well-known products like Google Bookmarks, Google Alerts, Google Scholar, Google Groups and Google Sites. Google is the best non-genealogy, genealogy website there is! 

Course Length: 9 weeks

Creating interesting family history stories involves adding details of your ancestor’s life that go beyond just names and dates. What was their occupation? What religious and political beliefs did they hold? Did they serve in the military, and why did they do what they did? This is an interesting way to start fleshing out the bones of your genealogy and to make your family history come alive. 

In this course we will explore how to find and incorporate information about your ancestor’s life to how to write and publish your family history story. Not sure how to go about writing the story of your ancestor? We cover the very beginning steps of writing to the final product. 

Optional Print Course Material: Research: Grandmothers, Mothers and Daughters - Tracing Women

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

Our female ancestors played significant roles in history. Yet, researching and writing about the women in our families can be a daunting task. If you have hit a brick wall in the quest to find information about your female ancestors, this course covers strategies and key sources to assist you with your research and show you how to document “her” story. 

Course Length: 7 weeks

Optional Print Course Material: Research: Jewish Ancestors

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

Researching a Jewish ancestor may seem a daunting task especially when you consider the Holocaust and the incredible destruction of lives, synagogues, and cemeteries in Europe. You may ask “why should I even try?” Then there is the myth that immigrants had their names changed at Ellis Island that leads us to believe that our Jewish ancestors are nearly impossible to research. All of these things scare off many from researching their Jewish family and discovering that there actually is a great deal of information “out there.” Researching Jewish ancestors is challenging, but with the research techniques provided in this course it will be revealed that much information is available. 

This course is presented with the assumption that the student may have little to no first-hand knowledge of Jewish ancestry. At the completion of the course the student will have a solid foundation to research Jewish ancestors and will understand the types of records available. This course will start with an introduction to the history of the Jewish people to better understand the challenges of this research. We will then get a basic understanding of the languages, dates, and name conventions of this unique group. Immigration patterns of the Jews as they came to North America are a valuable component to ultimately discovering their origins and the resources to assist in this research will be presented. Jewish life and record sources as they settled can provide additional clues to their origins and experiences as they came to America and Canada. Effective research strategies for finding Jewish ancestors will be presented. Lastly, the course includes an extensive discussion on resources available to pursue the genealogy of Jewish ancestors. 

Optional Print Course Material:Research: Social History

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

This introduction to social history will provide examples and resources of subject matter from many areas of interest to the social historian. Rather than being a comprehensive discussion of social history, the material is intended to inspire your research into the lives of your people and the times and places they lived in. Your ancestors, their families, and the society they lived in may be different from the examples given but only by researching the specifics of their lives, their communities, the world around them and the forces and influences that shaped their environment can you begin to know who they were. 

NOTE: Assignments in this course will require the student to do social history research on the Internet and/or at a local library. How in-depth the research will be, depends on the student’s own personal interest on the subject. 

Course Length: 8 weeks

Optional Print Course Material: Research: South African Ancestors Including Military Records

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

This course covers the history of South Africa, genealogical sources and repositories for searching your ancestors. General genealogical topics covered include birth, marriage, death, church records, cemeteries, newspapers, and more. Also included is discussion on online databases. Research examples are provided to give guidance in various types of research projects. 

In addition, the course looks at major wars and conflicts, and the records they produced. Starting with the Boer Wars, World Wars I and II, and ending at the Korean War. In particular, records of the South African Constabulary, South African Defence Force, South African Air Force and the South African Police are covered. 

Course Length: 7 weeks

Optional Print Course Material: Social Media Tools for the Wise Genealogist

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

Genealogy has come a long way from the days when networking meant writing a letter and waiting for a reply. With the advent of social networking and social media tools you can network with researchers worldwide, find distant relations, curate content, and share your research. This course will provide you with just some of the tools to help you take advantage of Web 2.0. 

Most people automatically associate social networks with websites like Facebook, Twitter, and even The International Institute’s own GenealogyWise. We will explore these websites and others that help you share your family tree, family stories, and even your personal library. The course demonstrates that the concept of social media is all about sharing, education, mobility and yes, networking. Each module concludes with recommended resources that provide the student with additional learning tools to get the most out of their social media experience. 

Course Length: 9 weeks

Optional Print Course Material: Writing the Genealogist's Memoir

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

As a genealogy researcher for your family, you can enhance the results of your work, as well as realize personal satisfaction and value, by creating a memoir to enlighten those who read it. Your memoir can tell them about the story behind your research: your inspiration, motivation and/or interest in genealogy; your process; “aha” moments; roadblocks and disappointments; and successes. The professional genealogist or personal historian can also offer a service to help clients create such a companion piece for their family trees or histories. 

This course will explore the importance and value of memoir, a method for accomplishing one, and special issues to consider. Exercises will offer practical application of the material and opportunities to work on writing your memoir. The course will focus on writing as a method but will explore other options, such as audio and video, as well. 

Course Length: 7 weeks