There were some prerequisites for this course: a prior week-long DNA course from an institute, a multiple week online course with homework, AND/OR familiarity with DNA evidence combined with experience with multiple testing companies, study of the books The Family Tree Guide to DNA Testing and Genetic Genealogy and Genetic Genealogy in Practice (Blaine T. Bettinger and Debbie Parker Wayne) as well as completion of the exercises in Genetic Genealogy in Practice.
If you've looked at my recent posts, you know that I spent considerable time preparing for the course. The links to the posts are below and each describes videos, books, and tools I used to review and to prepare myself for the course.
So, did all my preparation and review pay off? I'm very happy to report that it did! The course description gives a list of lecture topics which covered:
- Y-DNA
- mtDNA
- X-DNA
- Autosomal DNA
- DNA company tools
- DNA 3rd-party tools
- Evaluating a genealogical conclusion using DNA evidence
- Using Shared Matching
- Chromosome mapping and painting
- Advanced chromosome mapping
- Visual phasing
- Literature review of DNA evidence in case studies
- Ethical and legal considerations
- Future of genetic genealogy
Each day ended in with a case study and optional homework, each day's information building on the last. The final day, we went over the case study to see how we fared with our homework.
I need to express my sincere thanks to AncestryProGenealogists who selected me as the scholarship winner for the GRIP Institute. It was an absolutely wonderful experience. I learned from some of the best in the field. My classmates had a variety of genealogical talents and experiences and I learned from them as well. Thank you, AncestryProGenealogists!
