April EdTech Monthly Newsletter
April 2025 Ed Tech Monthly Newsletter
Featuring the Google Admin team!
After School Tech Tips
This April, we're diving into the theme: AI and Digital Citizenship – Classroom Resources from CIVIX. These videos will be available on our TIPS PL Calendar and the YouTube After School Tech Tips Playlist.
Our lineup for this month is showcasing the classroom resources available on the CTRL-F website from the CIVIX organization (CIVIX is a non-partisan Canadian charity dedicated to building the skills and habits of citizenship among school-aged youth):
April 2 - Lessons to Help With Understanding AI, Algorithms, and Cultivating Online Search Skills for Grades 4–8
April 16 - Verification Skill Lessons for Grades 7–12
April 30 - AI Literacy Lessons for Grades 7–12
Subscribe to our channel to get all of the updates.
Students Build Edmonton
Students Build Edmonton is a Minecraft Education Build Challenge created in partnership with the City of Edmonton. Students Build Edmonton launches on April 14th, and teachers are invited to work with their students to submit their builds by May 30th.
A panel of judges from Edmonton Public Schools, and the City of Edmonton will choose a winner for each division level (Div 1-4), and the winners will be announced at the Virtual Awards Ceremony. The winning designs will be featured on the TIPS page at the conclusion of the challenge.
A registration form, as well as a teacher guide including the prompt, and all relevant Students Build Edmonton materials will be available on April 14th. Stay tuned for more information in the coming weeks!
To support teachers interested in participating in Students Build Edmonton, the TIPS team is offering Minecraft Education PD on the following dates:
Blip - A YouTube Story for Kindergarten and Grade 1 Students!
Are you looking for digital citizenship stories on YouTube to share with your students?
This story tells the story of Blip, a little robot who loves being plugged into her computer. She spends all her time online, playing games, learning, and exploring digital worlds. This story goes into Blip's experience about balancing screen time with real-life experiences, emphasizing the importance of play, exploration, and social interaction.
Google Workspace Update
- Record Audio/Video Comments in Google Classroom: Try out the newest pilot feature in Google Classroom starting today with the ability to record audio, video and screencapture feedback for your students and share them as private assignment comments right in Classroom! Check out this link for more information or watch this short video tutorial.
- Record and share your name pronunciation across your Google Workspace: You can now record your name and share its pronunciation with other users. The pronunciation can be played from your profile card across various Google Workspace tools such as Gmail or Google Docs on web or mobile devices.
- Try Canvas, a new way to collaborate with the Gemini app: If you like working collaboratively with Google Gemini to edit and revise content the new Canvas editor makes honing your content easier than ever
- New features available in NotebookLM and NotebookLM Plus: Check out the new options in NotebookLM like the ability to change the default output language of generated content and soon interactive mindmapping.
Goblin Tools - An AI Tool for Everyday Tasks
Want to keep up to date with technology tips and tricks or hear more TIPS updates?
- Click the "Subscribe" button at the bottom of this newsletter (if you're not already subscribed)
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More Questions? Looking for technology PD for your school? Email the TIPS team or connect with your TIPS team member directly. Bookmark our TIPS.epsb.ca website for more updates and resources.