Free Online Genealogy Course with FutureLearn (Week 6)

[dwfeathers]

Finished the course now and posted my rather luke warm response. I have rediscovered and posted on RootsChat so there has been a positive outcome! Perhaps I was expecting too much from the course after taking some excellent FutureLearn courses. I soon became bored with the presenters and the course content, though there some sections that I've taken note about.

[groom]

Hello, welcome to RootsChat. It's a pity the course wasn't what we expected. It does seem a bit strange to me that so many people are brimming over with praise for it.

[dwfeathers]

Hi groom. There were some good points about the course but I do find it strange that some are over the top in their praise. Perhaps they are the only ones who can be bothered to reply.

[tjugg]

I'm also amazed at the huge praise for this course.  I am by no means an expert but I found very little to get excited about.  I filled in the form and gave them both barrels! 

Linda

[3sillydogs]

I have to agree, it was somewhat disappointing especially if I compare it to the Hans Christian Andersen one that I just started.  There is so much more to the course and it's only the first week.

[Gillg]

Have still to finish week 6 as I have been concentrating on practising for a concert I'm singing in tonight (Friday), but I will certainly be expressing my disappointment at the end.  The course organisers have tried to please all comers and have ended up dipping in and out of topics with a great deal of repetition, especially at first.  Presentation (apart from the Scottish librarian) was poor - presenters either reading from a script or talking to a hidden audience in front of them, quite apart from the umms and aahs in one particular case. There was not enough participation in the form of tasks - let's not mention the quizzes! A series of courses structured in graded experience would have been better, but probably too expensive to organise.

It's noticeable that we RootsChatters have almost to a man made our disappointment very clear, but a mass of other participants obviously thought the course was 'amazing', 'wonderful', 'fantastic', etc., so I expect those are the comments that Strathclyde will concentrate on.  However, the script seems to suggest that comments will go to FutureLearn, so our rather negative comments may get through to them as overall organisers. 

[Wiggy]

At our 'Writing you Life Story' session at U3A today, there was quite an interest n Genealogy, so I was spruiking RootsChat to all and sundry - lots of interest shown!

Think we may get some new members on this site!

[groom]

It's noticeable that we RootsChatters have almost to a man made our disappointment very clear, but a mass of other participants obviously thought the course was 'amazing', 'wonderful', 'fantastic', etc.,

It has just occurred to me, I wonder if majority of those who praised the course had been working alone up until then and if it was the first time they had the chance to interact with others? Whereas, Rootschatters are used to discussing things, recommending resources, doing look ups, being told they are on the wrong track etc? So we were probably expecting more.

I think if you look back at the thread where the course was first mentioned, you will see that we were all looking forward to the course and were very positive about it. Even in the first couple of weeks we were still expecting it to improve, it was only when we realised that wasn't going to happen that we became disillusioned . Most of us seem to have given it a chance, and stuck with it, so I hope that FutureLearn do take our comments into consideration - perhaps one of them might even read our Rootschat threads!

[rosie99]

perhaps one of them might even read our Rootschat threads!

Maybe we should have given a link to them when we did the survey