Now in its fifth year, Nashwaaksis Middle School’s one-to-one program serves almost 600 students, making it the largest 1:1 middle school implementation in Canada. The 2009 School Spotlight Award, issued by the Lausanne Laptop Institute (Memphis, TN), is the latest in a series of honors for this Fredericton school, which is recognized around the world as a leader in global student collaborative projects.

Nashwaaksis Middle School (NMS) has a special focus on connecting students from around the world in learning projects that have the students creating content for a broad, authentic audience. In the last three years learners at NMS – both students and teachers – have collaborated in learning with students at over two-dozen schools across Canada and the United States and over twelve countries around the world. In preparing their kids to work, play and learn in the global environment of the 21st Century, the program focuses on giving learners the ability to locate, harvest, assess, process, connect, create and communicate information in a collage of text, images and video – all important elements of literacy in the future.

The Lausanne Laptop Institute has run its award program for three years. It recognizes classrooms that demonstrate best practices in information literacy and emerging technologies. The American School of Bombay won last year, and the Urban School of San Francisco received the 2007 award.

Source: Lausanne Laptop Institute: 2009 School Spotlight Recipient - Nashwaaksis Middle School, Fredericton, New Brunswick. See also: http://nasismiddle.nbed.nb.ca/