Genetics courses

Courses in genetics, genetic genealogy, biology and data analysis are offered by a number of institutions, many of which provide free instruction. Some of the main online education providers:

• Coursera: a for-profit educational company, partners with various universities, makes some of their courses available online for free. By 2012 around 2 millions students had enrolled and completion rates are 7-9%. Each course includes short video lectures on different topics and assignments to be submitted, usually on a weekly basis. Assignments and exams are multiple choice tests or peer reviewed. For free courses a "Statement of Accomplishment" will be given as a PDF download; it states "Has successfully completed an online non-credit course offered by ... University" and "... University cannot guarantee the identity of the student taking this online course" as no ID certification is done during the free Coursera sign-up process.
• Alison ("Advance Learning Interactive Systems Online"): free courses and no deadlines. The courses are entry level compared, for example, to the Coursera courses taught by professors. Succesful completion is possible by doing all lessons and the final quiz with a score of 80% or more. After succesful completion the option to buy the course certificate is given.

Genetic genealogy courses

• Online courses from the US National Genealogical Society Two courses are currently available: (1) Understanding and using DNA test results; (2) Genetic genealogy, autosomal DNA
• Online courses from DNA Adoption A range of courses is offered.
• Online genealogy courses from the University of Strathclyde. Options include a free online MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) ‘Genetic Genealogy: Researching Your Family Tree Using DNA’.
• Genetic Genealogy An online course from Excelsior college in New York. The course covers the use of Mitochondrial DNA, Y-DNA, autosomal DNA, and X-DNA, and introduces students to the many ethical issues involved in DNA testing and ancestry research.
• Pharos Tutors Pharos offer a range of courses for the genealogist including a course on genetic genealogy entitled "Demystifying DNA for family historians".
• i4GG: International Genetic Genealogy Conference in San Diego, California, USA. The recordings are available online for a small fee.
• DNA Workshop at the British Institute in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
• Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy (SLIG) includes courses on genetic genealogy.
• Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh (GRIP) includes courses on genetic genealogy.
• Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research (IGHR) includes courses on genetic genealogy.

Genetics and biology

Introduction to Genetics and Evolution

A free online course taught by Mohamed Noor of Duke University. 10 Weeks Lectures and 8 Problem Sets. Topics: inheritance, mitosis, meiosis, and ploidy, recombination, genetic mapping, genetic variation, mutation “rates”, complex traits, genome-wide association studies (GWAS), heritability, Breeder’s equation, population growth, allele and genotype frequencies, the Hardy-Weinberg (HW) equilibrium, Wahlund effect, population differences, inbreeding, natural selection, genetic drift, rate of neutral molecular evolution, recombination, selective sweeps, hitchhiking, background selection, dN/dS, McDonald-Kreitman test, optimality, adaptive feeding, speciation. Enrollment in the first course from Oct 10th 2012 was max. 33,000, 2164 took Midterm and Final Exam and 976 ended the course with an average grading of 80% or higher to receive a free certificate with distinction.

• www.coursera.org/course/geneticsevolution

Open University

The Open University offers a wide range of free online courses For details see the biology section of the OpenLearn website.

Various courses taught by professors

• Useful Genetics A free online course taught by Rosemary Redfield of the University of British Columbia about gene function and inheritance. For a review see Coursera's Useful Genetics Wows by Emily C on the 23andMe Spitoon blog, 15 May 2013.
• Genes and the Human Condition (From Behavior to Biotechnology) fundamental concepts of genomics and biotechnology, and their implications for human biology, evolution, medicine, social policy and individual life path choices in the 21st century by Tammatha O'Brien and Raymond St. Leger of the University of Maryland.

Entry level courses from Alison - Khan Academy

• Learn More About Evolution, Natural Selection and DNA Free online course published by Khan Academy about causes of fundamental biological processes; success of species; allele, gene and chromosome; variation within species; mutations and reproduction; DNA physical structure and copying; proteins;
• Learn about DNA Technology Today A free online course
• Introduction to heredity A free online course

Specialization for professionals

• Forensic DNA/Biology Various training courses for criminal justice professionals from the US National Institute of Justice.

Video lectures

• Evolution, Ecology and Behavior with Stephen C. Stearns YouTube video course about principles of evolution, ecology, and behavior for students beginning their study of biology and of the environment. It discusses major ideas and results in a manner accessible to all Yale College undergraduates.
• YouTube EDU Genetics collection of useful video lectures.
• Biology 1A UCBerkeley Video Lectures
• Heredity and genetics by Khan Academy and partly 23andMe: Punnett Square Fun, Hardy-Weinberg Principle, Sex-Linked Traits, genes, SNPs, Phenotypes
• Evolution and natural selection by Khan Academy

Data analysis and statistics

• Computational Methods for Data Analysis An online course taught by Nathan Kutz of the University of Washington
• Computing for Data Analysis A course led by Roger D. Peng of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
• Data Analysis An online course taught by Jeff Leek of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and co-editor of the Simply Statistics Blog.