The increasingly global environment has spurred the economy in the United States as well as the economies in nearly every other nation. Although the U.S. remains the world leader in the global economy, research shows that the United States is at risk of losing its place as the world leader in science and innovation. Policymakers have recognized the need for research addressing global competitiveness. President Bush signed the America Competes Act, which calls for increased investment in innovation and education to improve U.S. competitiveness and President Barack Obama has named a platform, "Science, Technology and Innovation for a New Generation" which will extend and prioritize the efforts to improve math and science education. K-12 U.S. students are graduating from high school unprepared to pursue degrees in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) in college. Without STEM degrees they will be unable to pursue technology jobs after graduation. Statistics show that the U.S. is failing to produce as many graduates in STEM as other countries. In an increasingly global world, without graduates in STEM courses the U.S. is at risk of losing its position as the economic world leader. Government, industry and academia all agree that the U.S. needs to address education on a K-12 level to ensure that U.S. students are equipped with twenty-first century skills to compete in a twenty-first century global economy. Twenty-first century students are different from students of previous generations. Researchers argue that changes in the environment, specifically an increased exposure to technology, have changed the brains of twenty-first century students; twenty-first century students learn differently. However, twenty-first century students are being taught with an instructional curriculum that was designed for a previous generation that did not have the same exposure to technology. This is causing a digital-divide that is hindering the achievement of students. The instructional curriculum needs to be updated to meet the needs of twenty-first century students. This thesis addresses this need from a technical communication perspective by arguing that the instructional design of twenty-first century learning materials should be improved by adhering to guidelines for twenty-first century learning characteristics and twenty-first century technology use. The guidelines support a national goal to improve K-12 achievement in order to increase U.S. STEM graduates and increase the U.S.'s ability to compete in a global economy.

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<p>Best possible self (BPS) is one of the most widely used positive psychology interventions shown in the laboratory to effectively improve participants’ overall well-being in both the short- and long-term. However, limited research has been conducted in real-world contexts. This dissertation aims to explore the practical application of BPS integrated into the instructional design for reflective activities in real-world class settings. Three papers were included in this dissertation conducted in both undergraduate (preservice teachers) and graduate (novice instructional designers) classes: the first paper examined BPS’s effects in promoting preservice teachers’ overall well-being through a quantitative method; the second paper measured BPS’s effects in improving preservice teachers’ attitudes towards technology integration through a quantitative approach; the third paper explored novice instructional designers’ attitudes towards BPS and the relationships with their well-being (gains) and personality through mixed methods. </p> <p>The first paper (chapter 2) examined BPS’s long-term effects in improving participants’ overall well-being compared with the control group through a quasi-experimental design. Results from a 2 × 3 mixed ANOVA indicate that BPS did not significantly improve the participants’ well-being over time compared with the control group. In fact, the control group performed better than treatment one month after the intervention. This result aligns with findings of well-being during COVID-19. </p> <p>The second paper (chapter 3) measured BPS’s effect in improving preservice teachers’ attitudes towards technology integration. Even though the results show that BPS did not improve participants’ attitudes towards technology integration statistically significantly compared with the control group (possibly because of impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic), the results are promising because: first, inside the treatment group, the result shows BPS improved participants’ attitudes significantly; second, under the pandemic, literature reported that BPS was not as effective as in normal situations; however, the activities in the control group might be more effective under the pandemic.</p> <p>The third paper (chapter 4) explored novice instructional designers’ attitudes towards BPS and the relationship between attitudes, well-being, and personality. Pearson correlation results show significant correlations among attitudes, subjective well-being (gains), and openness to experience. In addition, the results from open-ended questions confirmed participants’ positive attitudes towards the BPS. Taken together, the findings from three papers contribute to the practical application of BPS in real-world class settings, especially under the unique pandemic situation. More studies are needed to explore the application of positive psychology interventions in instructional design in real-world settings.</p>

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