I don’t think I’ve ever ready Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein’s book Nudge, but I probably should. I probably first heard about Nudge from one of the Freakonomics Podcasts on the subject. I try to keep it in the back of my mind of how I can nudge people in a direction I want to get them to go.
My latest nudge has been with testing equipment. Whenever we test on the computers we put out a lot of equipment, which we often do not get back. The worst offender are the headphones. The last few testing sessions I think I may have gotten a 60% return rate.
After rejecting a few bad ideas (making people sign out for them separately, writing grumpy emails) I tried to think of a nudge. How could I nudge people to return them.
I decided to make a headphone wrap for each that could not be taken off. It would be clear which headphones belonged to “testing.” Then, as an added bonus, hopefully they would come back wrapped.
After way too many models, I come up with this. The headphone cable is taped into the opening, so they do not come out. On later models the entire wrap is covered with electric blue duct tape, so it is easier to find. And the wraps on the side are straight instead of diagonal. 
But, it so far, it seemed to do its job. They were all returned without me having to nag or do a checkout system. One was damaged (a student took off the tape), but that was pretty easy to fix. So, a pretty good nudge.
This nudge was for something pretty small. I wonder if I could nudge some more instructional issues in the right direction.
Notes For Kevin 