Optimal Matie — Your First Year at Stellenbosch, One Week at a Time

The Problem

"The first year at Stellenbosch asks every new Matie to find their feet in almost every part of life at once: new studies, new people, new money, new independence. Optimal Matie gives a first-year group one hopeful idea for the whole year: everything the course builds can be measured, and everything it measures can move. Week by week they build the habits and skills of a thriving student, and each of them sees their own progress in numbers."

What you'll achieve

Outcomes you can expect

Every student reads their own Check-In, PERMA+4 and Harvard Flourishing Index numbers move from the gauge week to mid-year and the final week
Every student maps where help lives at Stellenbosch University, by need, with the call-now numbers first
Every student meets five Stellenbosch seniors' stories of arriving at university, writes their own connections, and answers the belonging survey
Every student applies the year to their own life in one project and to something beyond themselves in another, and ends with their own story of the year

The science behind it

What you'll learn

Surviving versus thriving, written goal-setting, grit and growth mindsets
How sleep, movement and food drive energy and learning
Strengths, connection, belonging, hope, optimism and positive emotions
Achievement, thinking skills, emotional intelligence, character and self-belief
Getting things done, personality, purpose, the upside of the dark side, procrastination and the inner life

What's included

Everything you get

23 modules with 338 interactive tools, each student working in a private FlourishIQ account
Seventeen tools written for this course, including My Optimal Matie Check-In and Where I Get Help: My Support Map, built on Stellenbosch University's own services
I Belong Here at Stellenbosch University: five seniors' stories, a writing activity and the belonging survey
Sixty narrated talks, one for every topic of the year, plus the opening talk Wellbeing Is Fitness
A reader, a Foundation Note and a ten-question quiz for every week, and fillable workbooks for every practice tool
For your facilitators: a facilitator deck with a run-sheet for every tool, a participant deck, a Facilitator Guide and a talks deck

Who it's for

The right fit

Designed for Stellenbosch University, and the faculties, residences and student-success teams within it, that want to give a first-year group a whole year of wellbeing and success: as a completion course, or as a credit-bearing module.

The Stellenbosch University edition of Optimal First Year: a self-paced wellbeing and success course for the whole first year, offered to the university for groups of its first-year students. Twenty-six weeks run from a gauge week through twenty content weeks in two semesters, with two project fortnights and re-gauges at mid-year and at the end. Every week brings its own check-ins, practices from the FlourishIQ library, tools written for this course, a talk, a reader, a Foundation Note and a ten-question quiz.

Common questions

FAQ

How is it offered?

To Stellenbosch University, its faculties, residences and student-success teams, for a group of first-year students, not to individuals. We agree the price with the university for its group, and enrol the group; every student works in their own FlourishIQ account.

Is there an edition for other universities?

Yes. Optimal First Year is the same course for any university or college: the Support Map carries the national 24-hour student lines and each student writes in their own university's offices.

Can it carry credit?

Yes. In the completion format a module is complete when its required tools are done and its quiz is saved. In the credit-bearing format, module completion, quiz marks and the two project accounts, marked against a published rubric, carry the credit. The faculty chooses; the tools are the same.

How long does it run?

Twenty-six weeks across the first year: a gauge week, ten content weeks, a project fortnight and mid-year re-gauge, ten more content weeks, and a final project fortnight and re-gauge. Students work at their own pace.

Can it be run in class?

Yes. The facilitator deck gives every module its through-line, its evidence and a slide, screenshot and run-sheet for every tool, with speaker notes; the talks deck carries the sixty talks. Mix a talk, the module's tools and time in students' own accounts.

Who sees a student's answers?

Only the student. Every score is shown to the student as a number with its band and the movement since their last take, and the only comparison the course makes is each student against their earlier self.

Ready to begin?

A whole first year at Stellenbosch, one week at a time, measured so every first-year can watch it move

For Stellenbosch University · Priced per group, agreed with the university

Enquire for your institution →

Offered to Stellenbosch University, its faculties, residences and student-success teams, for groups of first-year students. Tell us about your first-year group.