The Roles of Authenticity and Immediacy in Engaging Family Historians in Online Learning Designed to Advance Academic Skills

Abstract A rapid increase in the availability of digitized archival resources of relevance to family historians together with increasing individual fascination with genealogical research led to the University of Tasmania introducing a fully online Diploma of Family History in 2016. The course’s emphasis on authenticity through a variety of modalities and the sense of immediacy with which its online learning environment is imbued combine to engage and retain students’ interest as they focus on locating and contextualizing their own ancestors as research subjects. Permeating family history with academic skills promotes best practice in locating, analyzing, storing, and publicly presenting family-centric research materials for the edification of current and future generations.