You have to be somebody before you can share yourself: Applying Jaron Lanierâ??s You Are Not a Gadget to education

Abstract

?We are going to try something new today, I (Julie) said with great optimism to my class of 32 future English teachers that unseasonably warm February afternoon. ?Inspired by the way that academics use Twitter to tweet comments related to sessions and speakers at conferences, I?ve decided we will use an online polling platform to interact with an article I read aloud in class. As you listen, text some comments or questions about the arguments raised and they will show up on our projector. Your contributions will be anonymous, so don?t worry if you think your question might appear obvious to someone else. Before I even had the words out of my mouth, three clever twenty-year-olds had already sent sarcastic texts to the front of the room, much to everyone?s delight.