http://worldcat.org/entity/work/id/9787354

Effects of Student-Preferred Incentives in University Courses

Three experiments were conducted to determine the effects of student-preferred incentives across instructional tasks that varied in length and relatedness to course content. The first study was done to determine the effects of the opportunity to earn points toward the course grade. There were no differences between incentive and no-incentive students on any measure. Experiment 2 was designed to investigate the effects of student-selected incentive on student's posttest performance and study time across two instructional tasks related to course content. Incentive students performed better than no-incentive students on program subtests which required stating lists of rules that could be committed to memory. Experiment 3 was done to determine the effects of a highly preferred incentive, release from final examination, when used under instructional procedures in a two-week instructional unit. Effects of the incentive were studied on posttest performance, study time, student-initiated contact with instructor, and student attitude toward the incentives used. Students in the no-incentive condition scored higher than incentive students on a constructed-response subtest that required new rules applications. The evidence suggests that incentives are effective for memory-type tasks, particularly when the student is aware that rehearsal and memory are task requirements. (Css).

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