Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, is offering free family history and genealogy online courses. The courses available range from military record research to France, German and Scandinavia ethnic research.
The online courses usually feature about four lessons and are quite easy to use. These courses are good for both beginners and for experienced researchers who wish to brush up on their skills. You can set your own learning pace, choose when and where you want to study, view a wealth of online resources and have the advantage of discussing the course topics with other enrolled students.
Available courses include:
Family History/Genealogy - Introductory
Finding Your Ancestors
Providing Temple Ordinances for Your Ancestors
Introduction to Family History Research
Helping Children Love Your Family HistoryFamily History/Genealogy - Record Type
Family Records
Vital Records
Military RecordsFamily History/Genealogy - Regional and Ethnic
France: Immigrant Origins
France: Vital Records
France: Reading French Handwriting
France: Genealogical Organizations and Periodicals
France: The Internet and French Genealogy
French Research: Paris
French Research: Alsace-Lorraine
Germany: Immigrant Origins
Germany: U.S. Sources and Surname Changes
Germany: Jurisdictions, Gazetteers, and Maps
Germany: Reading German Handwriting
Germany: Calendars and Feast Days
Germany: Vital Records
Huguenot Research
Scandinavia: Jurisdictions, Gazetteers, and Maps
Scandinavia: Reading Gothic Script
Scandinavia: Church Records and Feast Days
Scandinavia: Census Records
Scandinavia: Probate and Other Records
The above free courses are for your personal studies or just to add insight to an area of interest. These courses are not for credit. However, the university also offers several online genealogy courses for college credit, too, including certification in family history. The certificate requires six three-hour college classes. The cost of each is about $360, which makes the total cost of the certificate about $2,000.
For details on the free online classes, go to http://home.byu.edu. On the left side of the Web page, click on courses online, then click on free Web courses.
For the college credit genealogy courses, visit the same Web site at http://home.byu.edu, click on courses online, then university courses, and finally history.
