Training: Class Outlines

Welcome to the Class Outlines! These are customizable slide decks with just one slide each—an opening slide with the link to the subject matter in The Family History Guide and suggested speaker notes. You can watch the video at the right, to learn how to use the Class Outlines.

Note : Class Outlines are not provided for classes or presentations on learning FamilySearch, Ancestry, MyHeritage, or Findmypast. Those topics can be taught directly from the steps in the Choices in each Learning Path. Also included are Exercises and Resource articles and videos. The Class Outlines deal with research topics, both general and country-specific.

Each slide deck uses Google Slides that you can download and customize to fit your needs. When the opening slide is run in Presenter mode, you can access and show The Family History Guide site, and the speaker notes are visible to you in a separate window but not to others viewing the presentation.

Currently there are 197 finished Class Outlines, plus Spanish translations (ES).

Preparation:

Open or download a slide deck below.
If you are new to doing these presentations, read the info in the Tips section below.
Study the speaker notes on slide 1 in the deck. (Pull up on the short horizontal bar to expand the speaker notes.) Each set of speaker notes refers you to articles and videos in The Family History Guide. Then open the corresponding article or videos in The Family History Guide to review them.
If desired, customize the speaker notes to meet your training needs.
Use the Presenter mode in Google Sheets to display the slide (only you will see the speaker notes). Then click the link on the slide to go to the content page in The Family History Guide. Have a great presentation!

Tips

Click here for presentation tips.

Terms of Use: Each Class Outlines slide is ©2024 The Family History Guide Association. You may download the slides and modify their speaker notes as needed. The slide may not be modified in other ways without written permission from The Family History Guide Association. You may distribute a modified copy of these slides so long as a) the other content and copyright statements remain intact, and b) you add a "Modified by (your name)" statement at the beginning of the speaker notes.

Content: Basic level classes are noted by the green text and green border on the slide, while Interm. class outlines use a blue color scheme. Each class usually covers one Goal in The Family History Guide. You can remove or add content in your downloaded version of the speaker notes to expand or shrink coverage. Note: To view or edit speaker notes, open the slide and drag the short bar below the slide picture upwards.) As you study the articles and videos in the speaker notes, we recommend you add your own personal notes for points you want to explain further or emphasize.

Note : The length of each class will vary from about 30 to 45 minutes, depending on the discussions and participation. For example, if there are 10 speaker notes in a slide, spending 3 minutes per note will cover about 30 minutes, and 4 minutes per note covers abut 40 minutes. Q&A and exercises can be added for in-person classes or interactive Zoom sessions.

Presenting: To run the presentation, in Google Slides click the down-arrow next to Slideshow (top) and select "Presenter view." The speaker notes appear in a separate window from the slides. In the first slide, click the URL to open the subject matter in The Family History Guide. Then follow the speaker notes to present the material for the class. If you are presenting remotely, make sure you share only the current window with The Family History Guide website, not your entire desktop with the speaker notes window. Each link you open from The Family History Guide appears in a new browser tab. You can close them to return to the current page in The Family History Guide.

Followup: Those who attend the presentation can review the material simply by accessing this page—https://www.thefhguide.com/train-class-outlines.html—and selecting the class outline to view or download. The speaker notes become the study framework, and the articles and videos can be reviewed in more depth.

To locate the articles and videos from the speaker notes more easily in the Choice steps, you can mark their Resource Stars so they stand out on the web page (requires a free Online Tracker account).