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Consultant Training Tools


Develop training strategies and activities to help family history consultants help others.

About


The Family History Guide can be an important resource to help consultants and trainers develop skills in FamilySearch, partner platforms (Ancestry, MyHeritage, Findmypast), research, and problem-solving. You can find the primary training for temple and family history consultants on this FamilySearch Communities page.

Here is a presentation for consultants and leaders in wards.

See a collection of additional resources for Temple and Family History Consultants on the Family Locket site.


Learning FamilySearch & Partners


Individual Learning

  1. If you have not already done so, set up a free account in the Online Tracker. This will enable you to keep track of what you are learning in The Family History Guide and do self-assessment on your skills.
  2. Start with Project 1: FamilySearch, Goal 1. If you already feel comfortable with the content in a given Choice, check the Exercises to make sure you have mastered the skills that are mentioned. If you have, you can skip over the Choice.
  3. You may want to split your screen and open The Family History Guide in one tab to follow the steps, and FamilySearch in another to do the tasks.
  4. As you complete a Choice, go to the Online Tracker for the Choice to enter notes and move slider bars as needed.
  5. When you finish a Goal, you can take the corresponding Goal Quiz (click the link in the header area).
  6. Work on the Goals in Project 1 that you feel are the most important to know. Then work on selected Goals in Project 2: Memories.
  7. You can also learn Ancestry, MyHeritage, and Findmypast with this approach.

Group Learning

A group of consultants working on a common Choice or Goal can discuss the concepts they are learning, in person or online. The trainer or discussion leader can also pose scenarios from The Q&A Center page to help consultants solve sample problems.


Learning Research Skills


Individual Learning

  1. Start with Project 4: Discover, Goal 1: Get Organized.
  2. Use the steps mentioned above for the Online Tracker and completing Goals and Choices.
  3. In most cases you won't need to go deep into Goal 1; just choose some articles and videos of interest and take notes on them.
  4. In Goal 2: Learn the Basics, read most or all of the articles and watch most or all of the videos. For a longer video you can click the Info button to see selected topics. You can skip the info on Puzzilla if you want.
  5. In Goal 3: Form a Strategy, read or watch the items of interest.
  6. The remaining Goals in Project 4 can be helpful with individual situations. For helping people with more advanced research, review the Choices in Goals 6 and 7. You may be able to help others with advanced research by showing them the resources in Goal 7, even if you are not an experienced researcher.
  7. For ethnic research, use the Ethnic Research entry in the Countries menu.
  8. See also the Knowledgebase entry in the FamilySearch menu. This resource has bullet items for a wide variety of helpful research topics.

Group Learning: See the Research tab in the spreadsheet for The Q&A Center page.



Country Research


  1. In the Countries menu, select the country where you are living and review the Goals and Choices there. The United States page is quite large, so it will take some time to review. For other countries, Goal 1 covers basic research concepts.
  2. Use the steps mentioned above for the Online Tracker and completing Goals and Choices.
  3. For the United States, also review the state pages of interest (use the links just below the Statue of Liberty picture) and county pages (bottom of each state page).
  4. For England, see the county pages; for Canada see the province pages, and for Australia see the state pages. These are available just below the main picture at the top of the page.

Other Resources


  1. Latter-day Saints: You can learn about temple icons, finding temple opportunities, managing and printing reservations, etc., in the Goals in the Church of Jesus Christ section of the Faiths menu.
  2. Latter-day Saint Activities: The Weekly Family History Activities page provides an ongoing companion for the Come, Follow Me lessons. There are also activities for Latter-day Saints.
  3. Youth Pages: The Youth pages help youth get introduced to family history in ways comfortable for them. There is also a Latter-day Saint Youth page for family history.
  4. Other Activities: See the Activities menu for family history activities for families, individuals, youth, and kids. These are appropriate for those of any faith.
  5. The Vault: In The Family History Guide, you can explore the Vault for additional articles and videos to strengthen your knowledge about many family history topics. The answers that you or your learners are seeking might be found in the Vault.


The Q&A Center


The Q&A Center is a series of spreadsheets designed for consultant training or individual self-paced study. The spreadsheets pose questions similar to those that might be asked by guests at a FamilySearch center or library, or by just about anyone engaging in family history.

Each question is linked to an answer in The Family History Guide. You can download the spreadsheets and customize them with additional questions and answers.

For more information, see the Q&A Center page.



Designing Training and Classes


You can teach just about any family history topic, right from The Family History Guide website. You don't have to build extensive slide decks and handouts; you can show and discuss articles and videos on the website that meet your needs.

To get started, see Prepare a Class and Class Outlines in the Trainers menu. These tools help you prepare great family history classes easier and more effectively.



Presentation for Latter-day Saints


This slide deck titled The Family History Guide: Helping to Gather Israel helps you present The Family History Guide to groups of Latter-day Saints in wards or stakes. You can download and modify the slides as required for your individual needs.