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Some school systems are bucking the trend by expanding access to online resources, including social-networking sites.

"The cameras on iPhones and Android phones (some of them, anyway) are pretty good. But sometimes we need a little more, like a way to get rid of that dreaded red-eye, crop out a nemesis, or splash some funky filters onto an otherwise mundane lunch. Or perhaps we're looking to get more out of the cameras in our pocket, nabbing DSLR-lite tools or turning a clunker into something usable. Whatever the case, chances are there's an app out there for you -- here are a few of my favorites."

"One of the new iOS 8 features that Apple demonstrated at this year's Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) was the upcoming changes to the native Photos app. One of the biggest changes involves the ability to keep all of your photos from iCloud available anywhere, anytime using iCloud Photo Library. Plus, Apple has added some basic editing tools and filters to the app and even made it possible for you to edit with third-party apps directly in Photos."

"Everyone likely has a few photos sitting on their iPhone they'd rather nobody else see, whether it's embarrassing selfies, poorly filtered or edited pics, a picture of a receipt or personal paperwork, or anything else in the realm of private photos. Those pictures can make showing someone another picture on your iPhone (or iPad) an awkward experience, as you're hoping they don't start flipping through your Camera Roll to discover that terrible photo of you after winning the pie eating contest. Fortunately the newest versions of iOS include a new way to mitigate that potential awkwardness by hiding select photos."

"iOS 8 extensions make the world, or at least, the world of iPhone, iPad and iPod touch, a better place, and having already explored some great add-ons for those using the Mobile Safari browser, we're back with a run-down of some of the very best Photos app extensions available. There are ten in all, and if you're constantly taking, editing and sharing photos using your iOS device, then this is a checklist featuring plenty of experience-enhancing tools. All these extensions let you use the app's functionality right from the stock Photos app on iOS. You don't need to run standalone apps to apply photo or video filters, add texts, trim videos, remove metadata and duplicates, add date stamp and so on."

"Editor's note: This guest post from Chris Casal started as a comment on "Filtering social media in schools because it's a 'distraction'" which appeared on Scott McCleod's Dangerously Irrelevant blog. Social media is no different than pencil and paper. I doodled a lot in the margins of my physics book. It wasn't Twitter and Facebook that made me doodle but I doodled nonetheless. Social media can serve as the new platform for distraction but not a new cause for it. Doodles, passing notes, sleeping in class, all of the "analog" forms of distraction, have just morphed into branded platforms. The difference? Sleeping in class never led to anything. On the other hand, connecting & engaging on social media might. The doodler who grew up to be a graphic designer may have been distracted in class but is now earning a living born out of that distraction. Maybe the students tweeting in class will develop the next great media platform."

For searching your important files and documents, Windows 8 dynamic search option immediately displays and filters results. But, for documents located outside Libraries you can use File Explorer formerly known as Windows Explorer.

"I recently discovered Boclips for Teachers, a portal hosting more than 2 million short-form educational videos from more than 100 of the educational video producers you already know and love. Familiar sites like TED-Ed, LearnZillion, Associated Press, PBS, Crash Course, Reuters, Bozeman Science and Smithsonian have offered permission for the site to curate their excellent content in a distraction-free, ad-free environment. Content is selected by teachers for teachers. Boclips for Teachers spans age/grade levels and disciplines. Content includes instructional video, animations, mini-documentaries, historical footage, breaking news and virtual reality. Teachers may use the platform to share, edit, and store videos or they might easily copy BoClips links to share on their own websites and learning management systems. Unfortunately, the search does not yet allow users to filter for subject, age level, curriculum standards, etc"

"Teaching news literacy is more necessary and challenging than ever in a world where news is delivered at a constant pace from a broad range of sources. Since social media and filter bubbles can make it challenging to access unbiased, factual information, we must equip students to be critical as they access news sources for a variety of purposes. This live, interactive edWebinar will give an overview of the phenomenon of fake news going viral and tools educators can use to help students develop news literacy skills."

"Google has recently revamped its popular fonts site 'Google Fonts'.  The site now has a user-friendly layout that allows you to easily navigate its directory that includes over 800 fonts. It offers a dynamic grid where you can preview fonts, select fonts you like, use preview text to test  them and many more. Fonts are organized into five main categories (Serif, Sans Serif, Display, Handwriting, Monospace) accessible from the left-hand sidebar. You can also filter your font search by sorts, languages and number of styles."

When we are young, we are naturally curious. We ask many, many questions. As we encounter the world, our consciousness is bombarded by a plethora of opportunities for curiosity. And at this early stage of exploring and discovering the world we inhabit, there is no filter between our sense of curiosity and our expression of our it. If we are curious, we will be asking questions and heaven help anyone close enough to be a potential source of answers. - At school, our relationship to both curiosity and inquiry changes.

"What Schools are Really Blocking When They Block Social Media"