Strathclyde MSc Genealogy

[Istudydeadpeople]

Has anyone done the Strathclyde MSc or the PG Cert or Diploma? Would you recommend it?

I am currently doing my 3rd open course and was thinking of applying for the PG cert and doing the MSc eventually.

I am not terribly impressed though by the resources on the course I’m currently doing and wondering if I should be looking elsewhere.

Genealogy has been my hobby for a while and wouldn’t mind pursuing it as a part time career once I retire in about 10 years time.

The IHGS also does a full distance learning course which can lead to a career. It might be worth looking into. IHGS Correspondence course

Sorry also should say they do quite a few seminars and courses to do with setting up as a genealogist.

Yes I was looking at their cert course today! Also the courses from Pharos tutors.

I think the Strathclyde one would keep me more focussed as it’s on a tight schedule and there are deadlines but I do like the one from IHGS and half the price of Strathclyde!

"I am not terribly impressed though by the resources on the course I’m currently doing and wondering if I should be looking elsewhere."

"I am currently doing my 3rd open course"

Do you mind me asking which course you are doing at the moment? Is this something with the Open University?

I've been thinking about doing something similar and there seems to be three different providers (well, four including Strathclyde).

Apart from the two you've already mentioned, Pharos and IHGS, there is also The Society of Genealogists (sog.org.uk).

"Genealogy has been my hobby for a while and wouldn’t mind pursuing it as a part time career once I retire in about 10 years time."

My retirement date is a similar length of time away and I've been thinking something similar. I'm sorry I don't have anything concrete to add, apart from the extra name to have a look at. Although it is not an endorsement, I know absolutely nothing about them.

I am doing one of the Strathclyde open courses -
the ‘tech’ one.

Does the Strathclyde course focus on Scottish or more general genealogy?

I have done the PG Cert with them and really enjoyed it. I thought I knew a lot beforehand but really did learn from it. It is or at least it wasn't just Scottish family history but it is the main theme. Bruce Durie was the lead tutor then but Tahitia was also one. As you say there are units and assessments. It was hard work but enjoyable. One of the great things for me was organisation of information and the actual resources you are exposed to. It really enhanced my knowledge.

Thanks @ICantbelieveitMeldrew

I have done 2 of the intro ones and I am doing the third one and I hate it! It is meant to be tech related but a lot of it is out of date.

I really dislike Family Tree Maker. Does a lot of the course involve it?

@Another2Cats

Thanks I’m a member of SoG and attend their talks and stuff which are great. They do courses but I want something that goes into more depth over a wider range.

Please message me privately @Istudydeadpeople as I graduated from the MSc last year and am more than happy to share what I know.

A more general overview of the Strathclyde MSc - benefits and drawbacks.

PG Certificate - this focuses mainly on Scottish research but also covers England/Wales, Ireland, DNA, heraldry and overseas research. Yes you have to use family tree maker which can be a learning curve. There is a bit of choice in some of the later assignments and you can complete a client report for a person of your choice but most of the course is set assignments where everyone does the same.

PG Dip - much more variety in research from around the world, Aus/NZ, India, North America, more medieval, palaeography. There is much more opportunity to follow your own interests - I did a house study, an emigration care study and another client study which I chose myself. There is also a project which is a more in-depth academic study into some aspect of genealogy. Everyone does something different and you agree a topic with your tutor, lots of previous examples to look at.

MSc - the dissertation. A full 15k - 20k word Masters dissertation, again a topic of your choice approved by the university.

The benefits of the course are that you cover a lot of ground and it gives you a very solid grounding. Completing the Dip gives you the level of education you need to join the register of qualified genealogists or AGRA. The course is entirely online and attracts many people from across the world, we had several on our cohort from the USA and Australia. The materials have been good - variety of notes and lectures and lots of books. Also access to all academic material throuh the uni library.

Downsides - it can be FULL ON if you take the part time option. Certificate was OK, lots to do and lots to learn, but not "difficult". Diploma is a real step up and we had lots of drop outs in the first 6 weeks. You are constantly juggling several projects at the same time and the people trying to work a full time job and study just couldn't as they did with the Cert. It can also be isolating as you are on your own most of hte time apart from an occasional Zoom seminar. I cannot advise strongly enough setting up a whatsapp group with other students to build a sense of community, it really was a life saver and I've made some great friends.

Do you mean the ones on Future Learning?

What software do you use? I used to use Family Historian but their continual upgrades got on my nerves. It felt like we were being used as guinea pigs in the early days.

I think I must have transferred to FTM for this course. I really can't remember as it was a while ago. I'm still using it now. It suits my purpose.

There is a tutor I see still on the course that many people had issues with.

Hi @ICantbelieveitMeldrew

i have had to reregister so had to name change in mumsnet.

I am doing my third Strathclyde open learning genealogy course, they are not on Future Learn.

I have been using Ancestry etc and a lot of this course involves creating a new Gedcom with proper citations in the Strathclyde style using Family Tree Maker ( Mckiev software) which I understand is also used on the Strathclyde Msc course.

I find it really frustrating to use and given this is a tech orientated course, many of the suggested topics and activities are years out of date.

I wondered if it is actually worth doing the Strathclyde PGcert etc or use another provider instead?

Thanks @MacaroonMacaron I can’t PM you but that’s very helpful.

I’m not sure what you mean about tech being out of date - do you mean that family tree maker is out of date or the materials are?

The materials used in the course by the tutor.

Ah right. It’s maybe that they just haven’t updated the free online stuff. We did have a few issues in the course with broken links or websites being updated but this is unavoidable really when sites update all the time. As soon as it was pointed out they’d sent an update email. It wasn’t ever really a big issue. Who’s the tutor in those modules out of interest?? You do use ftm a lot in the PG cert, you can avoid it completely in the Dip and MSc

There are a few free courses on Future Learn provided by Strathclyde .

https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/genealogy

They were when I did it and that was 13 years ago. Much of it originally done by Dr Bruce Durie.

Yeah he’s retired and hasn’t been involved in the course for at least 5 years.

The course I am doing is not on Future Learn, nor free: it’s here:

https://mycll.strath.ac.uk/MyCLL/Classes?cid=88&cname=Online+Genealogy

Ah right, I have no experience of that and don’t know the tutor at all. If you have done all three of those (and passed) then it’s worth asking if you can skip the pg cert and go straight into the diploma.

Ha! That’s not possible. They just give evidence of genealogy stuff for the application!

I would still ask. They can be fairly flexible. And even if not, the cert is still a good course with other stuff like heraldry, dna and palaeography