Back in 2003 when I was working with my class in Think.com one of the most immediate and noticeable effects was the way my relationship with the class changed - no longer did they see me as a slightly separate species of human being that lived in a cupboard at the back of the classroom only to emerge blinking into the daylight when the school bell went. This, I felt was a very positive thing. My Think.com home page was intended as a model for children to develop and I would talk about my sporting interests on it. Also, I would post "stickies" (Think.com speak for post it notes) to give feedback on children's webpages at a time that suited me (often in the evening). What I didn't consider was the potential ramifications of having an online "conversation" with children in the evening as I was very careful to ensure that all comments were strictlly limited to the development of websites. In addition, we had developed a comprehensive Internet policy which made it clear that access rules applied out of school as well as at home.
In Scotland, because of the development of a national network (Glow) this issue has been actively discussed in the blogosphere. Here's one article from Ewan McIntosh that shows how easy it is for things that teachers do could get misinterpreted. Th General Teaching Council for Scotland has just released it's draft code on professionalism and conduct. And here is Ewan's response.
I must admit, it never occurred to me back in 2003 that commenting on children's work live and online in the evening when those children were also potentially online would be open to misinterpretation, perhaps because I was very comfortable with drawing the lines between professional and personal and knew what felt right for me. Now that we are all rushing headlong into developing extended schools through the use of VLEs, blogs, wikis etc maybe we need to think about this issue a little more. In particular, it concerns me that teachers new to the profession will have gone through college using Facebook and the like and it's only going to take one image of a student teacher doing something inappropriate at a party for media hysteria to ensue. I've no idea if teaching colleges advise students on this issue, but they surely should. Similarly, as a headteacher I would be talking to my staff about the implications of the use of social networks like Facebook and Bebo.
Currently, there is a review being conducted in England looking at these very issues chaired by Dr Tanya Byron. Due to report in March 2008, its website can be found here.