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Published on: March 1, 2017
Novice Instructional Designers' Attitudes towards the Best Possible Self Activity and the Correlation with
Suzhen Duan1, Sunnie Watson2, Timothy Newby3
1Learning Design and Technology, Curriculum and Instruction in the College of Education, Purdue University, BRNG 3167, Steven C. Beering Hall of Liberal Arts and Education100 N. University Street, West Lafayette, IN 47907-2098 USA.
Abstract:
The effectiveness of positive psychology interventions relies heavily on participants' buy-in and personality traits. The Best Possible Self (BPS) intervention asks participants to envision their ideal future, supposing that everything goes smoothly. The BPS shows salient effects in improving subjective well-being in laboratory settings. In this study, the BPS was integrated into a real-world graduate-level online course as a series of assignments. A convergent mixed method was used to explore the participants' attitudes towards the BPS and the relationship between their personality and subjective well-being. A total of 86 students registered in both the summer and spring semesters of 2020 participated in this study. Pearson correlation results show significant correlations among attitudes, subjective well-being and gains and openness to experience. The results from open-ended questions confirmed participants' positive attitudes towards the BPS. This study contributes to the practical application of BPS in real-world, online, higher education courses.
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