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This author advocates for using pop quizzes to motivate studying. I disagree with his method, but it's still good to see his side of the argument.

EIM (Excellence In Motivation) announces the addition of two new modules to its recognition and incentive suite of solutions. EIM's Learn 'N' Earn and Interactive Incentive Games will be unveiled to the public at the World at Work Total Rewards Conference in Orlando, FL, May 21-23, 2012.

This is a really new way to incentivize or gamify some mundane processes in corporations. I can see this having an impact. .

Interesting study on rewards and motivation: Some excerpts - Rewards worked much better if they were given to students before the test, not after. Researchers found students worked significantly harder to keep what they had than they did to win something new. But none of the incentives worked at any age if students knew they wouldn't get the reward for a month. "All motivating power of the incentives vanishes when rewards are handed out with a delay," the researchers concluded. "Especially among children, the difference between right now and tomorrow is a big difference," Ms. Sadoff said. "For all students it's important that the reward be immediate." That impatience creates a massive problem for incentive programs based on state test results, which can often take months to turn around.

Thanks for this Kasthuri! This gives additional strength to the immediacy of digital rewards and students having access to their own "stats" (both potentially available in games and simulations). The thought of actual green-back monetary rewards for study/learning gives me the heebie-jeebies. I appreciated Alexandra M. Usher's comment, that "it's really important to reward inputs, not outputs [and] to reward behavior that kids can control, rather than just telling them to get better grades."

Devices like the iPad are new and fun and give children an incentive to read, including those who might be reluctant. It's a new motivation to explore reading. However, the concern is that parents rely too much on them and stop engagement with their young children.