Garden Valley Collegiate's participation in SchoolNet's Network of Innovative Schools Program received high praise from the organization's communications officer.

"GVC is by far a leader," Ottawa-based Sheri Brink said during a recent visit to the school. "They've belonged to NIS since its inception three years ago."

NIS's mission is to link innovative schools across the country and to foster their use of information technology in student learning.

On her tour of GVC, Brink saw students and teachers using innovative tools for learning, including the Palm Pilot project the Senior 4 Software Applications class is involved in, and online courses such as English, Math, and Biology.

As a communications officer with SchoolNet, Brink's job is to connect with the schools in the NIS chain and help them showcase their work. That included a live national webcast by teachers Larry Danielson of Garden Valley and Paul Doyle of Vincent Massey Collegiate in Winnipeg.

In this inaugural NIS Webcast, the two teachers offered a capsule view of their experiences with online learning and the discoveries that await voyagers on "the CyberSpace Odyssey." Danielson is the English Language Arts Team Leader at GVC and a veteran online teacher. Doyle is the department head for Business and Education at Vincent Massey Collegiate and an online instructor for the InFormNet consortium.

Check out the SchoolNet Network of Innovative Schools Website!