Five Tech Tips for the New Year: Kickstart 2025 with these simple tech tips

The start of a new year with a fresh slate of blank calendar pages is a natural time to consider making changes in your life. Common themes are focusing on improving our health or simplifying some aspect of our life. Consider using the beginning of 2025 as an opportunity to simplify and secure your digital life. Below are a few suggestions for tuning up your tech in the new year.

Update your passwords

If you’ve been using the same password for a while, it’s time to change it up. Your passwords should be unique, hard to guess, at least eight characters long, and should include a blend of upper- and lower-case letters, numbers, and special characters. Employ a password manager to help generate and store your secure passwords. For extra security, consider enabling multi-factor authentication for any particularly sensitive accounts.

Declutter email

If your email inbox is overflowing, you’re not alone. According to Venngage, the average adult receives 121 emails a day. This number could be considerably higher for educators.

Taking some time to purge your old emails can be satisfying. Depending on your schedule and personal preference, you can choose to tackle your inbox in large chunks of time or just do a little bit every day. Some people find it easier to sort their inbox by sender when deleting emails, rather than by the date the emails were received.

As you’re cleaning out your inbox, you might also consider unsubscribing to any email lists you’re no longer interested in so that your inbox stays manageable.

Clear out old apps

Take a few minutes to sort through the apps you have on your devices. Chances are that you’ll find apps you no longer use collecting digital dust. Deleting those unused apps frees up storage while also cutting down on visual clutter.

Create a "maybe" folder

If decision-making slows down your tech clean-up process, consider creating a "maybe" folder for apps and documents you don’t use regularly but aren’t quite ready to delete. Set a calendar alert to remind you to go through your maybe file again in the spring.

Backup your data

Have you backed up your data lately? It’s easy to overlook this crucial part of technology management, but anyone who’s ever lost an important file or drive can tell you how important this step is. The 3-2-1 backup process is often hailed as a best-practice in making sure your data can survive anything from a severe weather event to a ransomware attack. This process suggests you:

• Make three copies of your data

• Store copies of your data on two different devices

• Store at least one copy of your data offsite, for instance on the cloud

Starting the new year off by taking these small steps to simplify and protect your tech might not be a flashy resolution, but it’s one that you’re likely to reap the benefits of on a daily basis. We’re wishing you a happy, simple and secure 2025!

9 Tools for 2019

You’re back from winter break, refreshed and ready to get back to work. Why not implement some of the best tools for 2019 to help? There are a plethora of apps and extensions that can help you, your teachers and students make the most of the new year.

1. Flipgrid. We’re going to keep talking about Flipgrid because we think it’s only going to expand in use, especially since Microsoft Teams integrated Flipgrid into its Microsoft Teams for Education. Flipgrid is a video discussion platform for educators and students. It allows students to share their ideas, wonderings, projects and questions in new and creative ways. Administrators can use Flipgrid to engage their professional learning network and build community among staff by creating conversations.

2. OneNote. Come for OneNote’s Staff Notebooks and stay for its other tools. Aside from Staff Notebooks’ collaboration space, shared content library and personal workspace for every staff member, OneNote also allows users to add any content and use digital inking. It also supports Flipgrid.

3. Google Keep. Google Keep is the online note-taker that goes with you. Webpages, images or quotes are saved with a single click when using this Chrome Extension and they are synced across all the platforms you use. Easy.

4. Microsoft Teams for Education. This popular software is free for educators and has recently been updated. We expect even more improvements to roll out in 2019.

5. Google Authenticator. In a time where BYOD is becoming commonplace in schools, making sure your device is secure is a top priority. Google Authenticator helps with that. It generates a code that gives a second-step verification when you sign in.

6. Google Docs Offline Sync. Believe it or not, there are times when you don’t have Internet access, or you just don’t want to use your data. Because Google Docs is available offline, now you don’t have to. Create, view and edit files on Docs, Sheets and Slides all offline.

7. Even the most seasoned writers can use the extra pair of “eyes” that Grammarly provides. The base app, which checks spelling, is free or upgrade to the Premium version which not only checks spelling but grammar and punctuation. You’ll be asking yourself, “How long have I been writing everything in passive voice?”

8. CheckMark. This Chrome extension, created by EdTechTeam, gives teachers the ability to provide students feedback quickly and easily. Highlight text in a Google Doc and an overlay pops up with quick shortcuts to frequently-asked comments like “Check Punctuation” and “Spelling.” It works on Slides too.

9. LastPass. It seems like every website, app, social media platform and even software requires a password; that’s a lot to remember. LastPass makes it easy and secure to kept track of them, plus it’s free.

Have a tool that you can’t live without? Let us know in the comments.