Educational Opportunities - Miscellaneous Courses and Study Groups

 This is the fourth post about Educational Opportunities.  We will be discussing ad-hoc courses. These are those courses that are offered as one off courses, that are not associated with a week long institute.

Image made by Gemini.AI

You can find these programs on several type of websites. Some may be free, while others may have a cost.            

Search for courses on the below websites 

• Individual Websites 
• Level-Up Genealogy (Kimberly Powell)
• The Family History AI Academy (Steve Little and Mark Thompson)
• Family History Academy (Cathie Sherwood runs, various speakers) 
• Family Locket (Diana Elder)

• Society Websites
• National Genealogical Society
• GenTech Toolbox
• Self paced programs
• American Ancestors
• Association of Professional Genealogists
• Board for Certified Genealogists

• Study Groups
• GenProof Study Groups (Study Tom Jones' book Mastering Genealogical Proof)
• ProGen Study Groups (one year intensive program with monthly meetings and homework) 
• ProGen Practicum (must take ProGen first)
• Certification Study Group (Jill Morelli)
• ICAPGen Study Groups (Level 1, 2, and 3)
• NGSQ Study Groups (reads articles from the NGS Quarterly and discusses them)
• Evidence Explained Study Group (Cari Taplin and Cyndi Ingle)
• Mastering Genealogical Proof (Cari Taplin and Cyndi Ingle)
• Mastering Genealogical Documentation (Cari Taplin and Cyndi Ingle)

• Educational organizations - Massive Open Online Course (MOOC)
• Pharoah's Tutors (more than Genealogy)
• Ed2Go  (more than Genealogy)
• The Great Courses  (more than Genealogy)  Dr. John Colletta has a series here
• Coursera (more than Genealogy)
• EdX (more than Genealogy)
• FutureLearn (more than Genealogy)
• UdaCity (more than Genealogy)
• Udemy (more than Genealogy)

• Archive Websites
• National Archives
• Library of Congress
• State Archives
• Local Libraries
• State Libraries
• The UK National Archives
• RootsMOOC NC - DNCR
  
  
• Genealogy Database Websites
• Ancestry Academy
• Family Search Learning Center
• My Heritage Knowledge Base

Linda

Educational Opportunities - Institutes

 

This is the third post about Educational Opportunities.  We will be discussing Institutes.

 Image created by Gemini.AI

An Institute in the Genealogy world is an in-depth study of a particular topic or subject. They started out as a week long program, with four or five presentations a day for four days, and then two or three presentations on the last day.  They would start on a Monday, and run until mid day on Friday.
                                                                                                                            
Pre-Covid- These institutes were in person, and like in-person conferences, could become costly, when you factor in the registration, lodging, food, and travel.

Now most if not all the institute courses are either virtual or they offer both in-person and virtual. Most institutes offer recordings for a period of time after the course, for attendees to go back and watch the presentations over.  According to their website, and their Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct, GEN FED may record some of their presentations. When you are ready to expand your knowledge and become a better researcher, check out these amazing Institute organizations.

The institutes we will discuss are:

IGHR - Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research

        IGHR started at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama, but 50 years later, the program was moved to the University of Ga in Athens Georgia.  It used to be an in-person institute, but during and after Covid, it went to a virtual institute. They typically offer 12 or 13 different courses. The week long event will be held Monday, July 27 – Friday, July 31, 2026. IGHR has started offering programs that meet once a week for about 3 to 5 hours, for a set number of weeks.  Many who work love this option, as they don't have to take a week of vacation to attend a week long conference. They can arrange their schedule to attend one day a week for the course duration.  Many of the once a week course are offered at night, which also helps those who work outside the home. Registration is open for all courses up to a month before the course starts. Check out their website for all the course offerings.

****************************************

GRIP - Great Connections, Research Skills, In-depth Learning, People-Centered

        GRIP was recently sold to National Genealogical Society. The improvements NGS has made, has grown this institute by leaps and bounds.  GRIP offers a week of online learning, and then a few weeks later, they offer an in-person event.  Each week has different courses, and yes you can sign up for both sessions. GRIP Virtual is Jun 22-26, 2026.  GRIP in person is Jul 12-17, 2026 and is held in Pittsburgh, PA. This year, GRIP is offering 2 courses with the once a week option. One course is for Librarians and the other course is for Societies.  

****************************************

SLIG - Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy

        SLIG offers several institutes throughout the year. The registration dates are set three to four months before the course starts. SLIG is the institute that started the trend of holding once a week classes. Each session offers amazing classes, and yes we can register for each session, if money is no object.

SLIG FALL 2026 (once a week courses) Sept- Nov 2026. Registration will open on May 16th, 2026!
SLIG VIRTUAL 2026 (Single week courses) Jan 25-29th 2027. Registration will open on September 12th, 2026
SLIG SPRING 2027 (once a week courses) February–May 2027. Registration will open on September 12th, 2026.

****************************************        

GenFed - Genealogical Institute on Federal Records

        Held in person in Washington DC, in Aug or Sept every year. This program studies the records created by the Federal Government and found at the various National Archives across the country.
Registration is by lottery, meaning you register to go, and then the institute holds a drawing and selects 40 people from all the registrations to be  offered a seat.  This limit is due to the constraints of the DC Archives conference room.  The event will be held Aug 30- Sep 5, 2026.  Keep an eye out on the 2027 dates, and when registration starts which is usually around Feb the following year.

****************************************

TIGR - Texas Institute of Genealogical Research

    Held every other year, it has been virtual since 2021.  The next conference will be in held in 2027.

****************************************

MAAGI - Midwestern African American Genealogy Institute

    Established in 2013, Held on Jul 7-9 2026.  It will be virtual this year.  MAAGI is the only African American-focused institute.

****************************************

Stay tuned for the next installment where we will discuss other educational opportunities including self paced courses.

Educational Opportunities - Conferences

 In my last post, we discussed  educational opportunities that started and finished in the same day. 

Today, let talk about educational opportunities that are available  but they occur across days.  

Conferences are typically 3 days long. These events are fun to attend. Many are still in person, while others can be attended virtually. 

Image created by Gemini.AI

These do have a cost associated with them. There are a vast array of presentations to choose from. Attending every presentation is next to impossible due to the number of presentations happening simultaneously. 

Most conferences offer an early bird discount, so you can save money on registration.  If the event is in person, the conference committee will arrange for discounted rooms at the conference hotel. You will need to reserve your room early as the rooms do go fast. 

There may be planned luncheons, excursions, and even workshops offered, but they will cost extra, and are not part of the conference registration.  

Meals and round trip travel to the conference is another expense that will need to be considered.

If the conference offers a virtual option, you can stay home in your pj's and bunny slippers, which saves the costs of travel and the hotel, but you also miss out on the networking, excursions and workshops.  It is a great option if you are on a budget.

Take RootsTech for example. It is one of the biggest genealogy conferences held every year. If you go in person, there is registration, hotel, travel and food costs. But you can do research at the Salt Lake City Family Search Library, network, go to the vendor hall, and see presentations only offered to in person attendees. 

If you opt to attend RootsTech virtually, it is free, but you miss out on the excitement, many presentations, the vendor hall and the amazing deals and door prizes.

Upcoming Conferences for 2026 

This list is not inclusive, there may be other conferences out there, that are not listed

Ohio Genealogical Society is holding their in person conference Apr 29 - May 2, 2026

National Genealogical Society is having their conference at the end of May 2026, with a virtual option.

The Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania hosts PaGE, a virtual conference with a twist.  You get all the recordings two weeks in advance of the conference date. During the dates of the conference Aug 6-9, 2026, you can attend 30 minute live Q&A sessions with all the speakers. There will be scheduled topic discussions where attendees can join in. Vendors will have scheduled time to discuss their products and answer questions.  

East Coast Genetic Genealogy Conference will be in person with a virtual option. Aug 21-23, 2026. 

Utah Genealogical Association holds their conference called The Summit of Excellence on Sep 10-12 2026. This is a virtual conference with access to all conference recordings until Dec 31, 2026.

North Carolina Genealogical Society has 2 conferences, a Spring one that happened in March 2026, and a fall conference that occurs on Sep 18-19, 2026.

New York Genealogical & Biographical Society (NYG&B) is holding a hybrid Conference on Sep 18-19 2026.

Minnesota Genealogical Society's conference called North Star is being held on Oct 30-31, 2026.  This is in person only. 

Texas Genealogical Society holds their conference on Nov 6-7 2026. It is in-person with a virtual option. 

Scottish Indexes - is a conference that occurs virtually every few months with a focus on Scottish Research. Held on a Saturday, sponsored by Graham and Emma Maxwell.

Webinars, Conferences, and Institutes are listed on the free genealogy calendar at thesleeplessgenealogist.com/calendar

Our next post will discuss Institutes which can last anywhere from 5 days to once a week for several weeks.

 Linda

Educational Opportunities - Webinars, Workshops and One Day Seminars

 There are so many wonderful educational opportunities available both virtually and in person.

Image created by Gemini.AI

Let's discuss some of the different types of learning opportunities below:

There are webinars, which are typically a one hour presentation held in person, via zoom or hybrid (both  in person and on zoom simultaneously).

These are usually free to attend; however some societies charge non- members to attend, between $5 and $10 dollars, paid when you register. 

Legacy Family Tree Webinars is a subscription based service, where you have access to over 2000 webinars any time. The $50 a year price tag is really very affordable when considering the sheer volume of recordings.

The next opportunity is a workshop. These last at least 2 hours. One hour is lecture with the other hour being hands on practice.  these can be offered virtually or in-person. Most workshops have a cost to register, but you may find some are free. 

One day seminars, which are typically four one-hour webinars, that relate to each other.  There are two sessions before lunch, with a 15 minute break between each presentation. Then everyone breaks for lunch, usually an hour. After lunch, two more one hour presentations are given with a 15 minute break between them.  These usually have a fee involved, but you get an entire day of education. 

Stay tuned for the next installment where we will discuss Conferences.

Linda

.

Free Google Calendar to Find Webinars Across the World

 

This is a work in progress and will be updated as events are brought to my attention. This is a public calendar I created in Google back in 2017, listing many of the upcoming educational opportunities that are genealogy related. All times are added in East Coast time, so convert accordingly.

I've added: FREE webinars, Conferences, and other Education opportunities

Single-day events are usually FREE
Programs that have registration fees have a "$$$" in front of the title.

Please send me an email/ IM on Facebook if you have an event you want me to add to the calendar or if you find a mistake. This is a free service, Please enjoy.

Societies that want to add their own events, please contact me, and I can get you access.

Calendar for virtual webinars and conferences in the Genealogy world

The original link to the google calendar is Genie Bugs CALENDAR

You can also add the calendar to your google account by going to thesleeplessgenealogist.com/calendar and clicking on the plus button in the bottom right corner or clicking on the "Add to Calendar" link at the bottom left of the calendar. (See image below)