Inferential Genealogy Course in Second Life

A very new and exciting opportunity came across my radar this weekend that I can’t wait to get started!

I don’t know if you know it or not, but FamilySearch.org has a bunch of online courses that you can take from the comfort of your own homes for FREE!

There are courses on beginning genealogy, research in various countries such as Austrialia, Germany, England, Italy, Poland; courses on analyzing handwriting, and even courses on reading other languages!

Many of these “classes” are video based and interactive – in my opinion – very well put together and easy to follow along with.

And you don’t have to go through these classes alone. You can beam them up on a big projector screen in front of your local genealogical society and work through some of the exercises together as a group.

Or…..

You can do what some of us are going to do and meet in the virtual world of Second Life where informal genealogy meetings are being held right before your eyes! Second Life is a virtual reality "world" that you go to on your computer. It has a genealogy environment including a Family History Center and Just Genealogy Fire Pit where most of the genealogy events are held. This is a place where genealogists all over the world can come together and chat, share ideas, give, watch, or listen to a presentation; exchange information, etc. 

That’s right. We are going to meet over the course of a few weeks and take a class together in Second Life. We will have homework to do and will take part in discussions just like you would in a normal chat room or class room.

And the class we are taking is called “Inferential Genealogy.” It is posted on the FamilySearch.org website and can be accessed here: http://broadcast.lds.org/elearning/fhd/community/cbig/player.html. Tom Jones opens the video with a brief introduction and then asks you to decide what you would like to do. Click on the “Help” link to start the learning module.

Everyone is welcome to attend this learning opportunity in Second Life. Please visit DearMYRTLE’s Genealogy Blog for more information and the schedule time and meeting places in Second Life.  Also, there is an open Facebook group called “Genealogists in Second Life” where you can find information about all of the genealogy related events happening in the virtual world of Second Life. 

Our first meeting is tonight in the Just Genealogy Fire Pit at 9pm EST. I can't wait to see how this goes!