Creating the Introductory Module and Project Documentation for the course was challenging in a few ways.  The first hurdle involved learning the basic operation of the Moodle LMS platform.  After reading Moodle documentation and watching a few tutorial videos I was able to add some objects and elements but it took a considerable amount of trial and error. The course forum was a good resource and I received some help from colleagues to get the hang of the system.  Because the course I am designing is intended for secondary age students who may have limited access to high speed internet, the main goal of the course page was to be easy to follow and contain only the necessary elements with obvious links to content, activities and discussions.  For this type of course the Moodle platform seems to be an appropriate choice with many easy to edit tools included.  Once I work out some more of the course activities and assessments I feel that it will be a bit more apparent which structure and design components will need modifying.

When creating the project documentation for the course it felt a little daunting as this is my first attempt at using an LMS platform; I have designed many courses and activities which include web components but they have always been supplementary to the traditional classroom.  My biggest challenge is creating a design that pedagogically strong from an online learning perspective but also works well with my goals when teaching history.  I am excited about the number of possibilities that online learning provides for the use of digital artifacts and I am hoping that students are able to dig deep into online archives and share what they find and create.  The tricky part will be designing activities which give students enough choice to be engaged in their projects but not overwhelmed by the possibilities and skills needed to work with the various types of media that are accessible.