Learning System

Welcome to the Learning System! Here you'll discover how to accelerate you family history learning and progress, in a flexible structure designed to meet your needs.

Note : If you are new to family history, you may want to review the Beginner's page to understand some basic concepts first.

The Building Blocks: Projects, Goals, and Choices

The Learning System is organized into Projects, Goals, and Choices. You can think of Projects as large boxes of learning; Goals are medium-sized boxes inside the Projects; and Choices are smaller boxes inside the Goals:

Inside the Choices are

Steps (step-by-step learning instructions to follow)
Resources

Projects

Projects are included for each entry in the Learning Paths menu in The Family History Guide: FamilySearch, Ancestry, MyHeritage, and Findmypast. To display the Projects, click one of the Learning paths. A page will appear with the Projects listed across the top of the page.

For example, if you click FamilySearch, you'll see these Projects at the top of the page:

Goals

Goals are broad categories of learning activities you can work on. Each Project has from four to fourteen Goals, depending on the Project size. Goals for the Project are listed in each Project page. For example, here are some of the Goals in the FamilySearch Project 1 page, along with their Choices (links in green):

Choices

Choices are different aspects of a Goal that you can try. Choices are marked by letters A through G. Although they are listed in a suggested sequence, you can skip Choices you already feel comfortable with or are not interested in. This allows for a flexible learning experience.

Choice B from Project 1 FamilySearch, Goal 1 is shown below. You'll see some of the steps listed in it (click the image to enlarge it):

When you complete the Goals, Choices and steps in the FamilySearch Projects, you'll have an extensive working knowledge of FamilySearch. The same is true for the Ancestry, MyHeritage, and Findmypast Projects: each one has customized information and screens to help you succeed in learning those Partner sites.

You can click a Choice title to hide the text below it, or click "Close Choices" in the Header area to close all Choices. Here are the closed Choices for Goal 1:

Project Resources

Steps and Resources

Steps explain what to do, and resources link you to helpful articles and videos. Here's an example of steps and resources in FamilySearch Project 1, Goal 1, Choice D (click to enlarge the image):

Notice that step 3 has a link to a video from FamilySearch (FS) that is 3:21 long. Step 4 has links to two articles. All resource links open in separate windows.

We have included some great resources in The Family History Guide, right where you need them. You can learn skills by following the steps in the Choice, or read articles or watch videos to learn—whatever fits your learning style.

Legend for Article and Video Links

Many of the article and video links begin with acronyms to designate who the link is from. (In the example above, Step 4 has links to FS—FamilySearch—and RIV—Riverton FamilySearch Library.) Below is a legend that describes the acronyms:

Tracking Your Progress

The basic way to track your learning progress in The Family History Guide is by using the Online Tracker. This is a secure database where you can track your progress online, typing notes and moving slider bars to show your progress. All changes are automatically saved to the database. You will need to create a free account (username and password) to use the Online Tracker.

There are Exercises in the Choices that help you evaluate how to rate your skills, and you can apply those evaluations to the Online Tracker.

Also, there is an empty star at the left of each resource link (see the previous graphic). When you have read an article or watched the video that applies for a step, you can click the star and fill it in. That way you can see at a glance which resources you have completed on a page.

Benefits

Two important benefits of the Learning System are

Just-in-time Learning—Resources are presented in Choices right where you need them; you don't have to search for them online or try to find them in a Help Center. Also,
Layered Information—There is a maximum of two articles or videos per step, to avoid information overload. For additional article or video links on a particular topic, you can visit the Vault, which is a large collection of secondary resources, arranged by category.

We hope you enjoy and take advantage of the Learning System—see you in the Projects!

The Learning System