The end of the semester is always a busy time — doubly so when it’s also the end of the academic year. Students are graduating, instructors are wrapping up their courses, staff are finalizing the fiscal year and everyone is gearing up for summer.
Whether you’re focused just on getting through the next few weeks or thinking ahead to upcoming travel or even the Fall, here are a few ways you can end the semester right.
1. Prep for travel
The end of the semester may have you dreaming about your upcoming travel. Add these tech items to your to-do list for fewer travel headaches.
Unplug
If you’re a student going on summer break or an employee taking a vacation, you’ll probably want to unplug from email and chat and silence your notifications. While it may be tempting to trash the apps, it’s still important, especially for students, to check in occasionally over break.
Instead of trashing the apps, try using Microsoft’s “quiet time” for Teams and “do not disturb” for Outlook. This way, it’s easy to pop back in when you want to without being overwhelmed by notifications.Ensure you can 2-Step
If you’re planning international travel, add one more item to your checklist. You may not have cell signal to receive text messages or voice calls — and that may mean you can’t access UNC resources protected by 2-Step Verification.
Check your 2-Step settings for both Duo and Microsoft 365 to make sure you have ways of authenticating that don’t rely on having cell service. Both Microsoft and Duo have mobile apps that generate passcodes without cell signal or Wi-Fi. And Duo supports physical security keys to go phone-free. If possible, enroll an additional device, like a tablet or a second phone number, to ensure you can authenticate.
Connect to safe Wi-Fi
Whether you’re traveling near or far, skip using public Wi-Fi networks. Connecting to public Wi-Fi is risky and leaves your devices vulnerable to hackers and criminals.
Thankfully, there are safe Wi-Fi networks out there. Better yet, one of them is probably already configured on your device — eduroam. UNC-Chapel Hill uses eduroam to deliver on-campus Wi-Fi, but did you know it’s part of a worldwide network?
Eduroam, derived from the words “education” and “roaming,” provides more than 10,000 hotspots at schools, universities, museums and cultural sites in more than 100 countries. You can read two students’ study abroad stories to learn just how effortless it is to connect to eduroam, even when thousands of miles away from Carolina.
If you’re not registered or want to register more devices, visit the eduroam enrollment page when you’re on campus.
2. Tidy files and check permissions
With projects and classes closing out, the end of the semester is a great time to do a little electronic spring cleaning.
Review membership
For Microsoft 365 groups and teams, review your membership and permission levels.
Remove members who no longer need access and double check that members have the correct access level. Instead of granting everyone all the privileges, it’s a best practice to set permissions to the lowest level that person needs. For Teams and SharePoint, explore the difference between owner, member and guest capabilities.Spring clean
And if you want to spring clean your files and emails, now’s your chance. Cloud storage makes it easy — maybe a little too easy — to store your stuff, but space isn’t unlimited. Duplicates, drafts and old backups are great candidates to delete. You have 30 days to restore deleted files in OneDrive, so don’t be too nervous to get ruthless.
One note before you delete files, double check if you need to retain them. Everyone is responsible for managing University records, according to the instructions in the University of North Carolina General Records Retention and Disposition Schedule. If the files need to be retained, consider moving them to SharePoint so your entire team can co-manage the records.
3. Plan ahead
And while you’re wrapping up this semester, keep an eye on the future.
Learn and explore
Summer is the perfect time to learn and explore — this summer may be all about AI. According to LinkedIn Learning, more than 80% of people want to learn more about AI. If you’re among the 80%, here are three tips to help you get started with AI.
Microsoft Copilot with Data Protection is a great tool to experiment with, as it can generate both text and images. Even better, ITS provides Copilot with Data Protection free to UNC students, faculty and staff, further lowering the barrier to explore generative AI.Graduating students
If you’re a graduating student, it’s time to check your tech! If you aren’t also an employee or continuing on to graduate studies at Carolina, your Onyen access will end 180 days after graduation. This means you won’t be able to log into email or other Onyen services.
Now’s the time to begin making changes so you don’t get stuck later. Update your email address in systems, set up email auto replies and migrate important files out of OneDrive and Adobe Creative Cloud. For more guidance, use the graduating students checklist.Instructors
If you’re an instructor, boost your Canvas skills. Sakai will move to restricted access beginning on May 15, so this summer is a great time to close out Sakai and embrace Canvas. Even if you’re already teaching in Canvas, there may be more to learn. For example, did you know ITS Educational Technologies recently rolled out a OneDrive integration and introduced a new Text Quiz Builder?
Training and support options from ITS Educational Technologies range from self-paced video tutorials to live in-person and virtual trainings.Staff
For staff, the end of the Spring semester lines up with the beginning of a new performance review cycle. You can use your free access to LinkedIn Learning, including the LinkedIn Learning app, to find ways to meet your individual goals.
LinkedIn Learning offers a variety of courses, many under an hour, and topics range from software to soft skills. Whether your goal is to level up your Excel skills, improve managing a remote team or become a confident public speaker, LinkedIn Learning has you covered.