The key to good public failure motivation is to make it opt-in. Blog post committing yourself to run a marathon: good. But: Past students of mine have repeat

The key to good public failure motivation is to make it opt-in. Blog post committing yourself to run a marathon: good. But: Past students of mine have repeatedly told me to be a bit of a bastard in the classroom, as they find the persistent threat of embarrassment (if they are unprepared) to be a useful motivator. That's a recipe for disaster. People's learning styles vary greatly, and helpful motivation to one student might be traumatic humiliation to another. Since students are a captive audience, the people who hate that style will just stop coming to class. People will embarrass themselves enough as it is; no need to do it for them.