Syllabus
Master of Science in Applied Nutrition
APN 707 Dietary Practices and the Environment Studies (Fall A 2023)
Credits - 3
Description
Diets, dietary practices, food choice, and food patterns will be examined through the lens of sustainability at local, national and global levels. Consumer choices and their impact on food webs and global food systems will be explored through analyzing the various inputs, outputs, and outcomes of food choices. Nutrient availability and nutritional status associated with a variety of dietary types will be considered through the context of dietary effects on personal and environmental health. Topics include policy, socioeconomic, cultural and ethical impacts of a variety of diets/dietary choices.
Materials
Learning Objectives and Outcomes
By the end of this course, students will be able to:
- Discuss the historical development of an unsustainable food system in North America.
- Evaluate the environmental sustainability of traditional diets worldwide and how they can meet nutritional needs.
- Describe the impact on biodiversity and food systems of big agribusiness and the consumer food choices that drive it.
- Compare the economic, cultural, nutritional, and environmental effects of global vs. local food systems.
- Identify the dietary composition of Western-style diets that can affect communities in developing countries, for instance, increase waste and pollution, and affect population health and quality of life in developing countries.
- Assess emerging issues of climate change brought about by food production and agricultural practices.
- Compare nutritional adequacy and environmental impacts of specific dietary patterns available in developed countries, including a Western, “prudent”, Mediterranean, vegetarian, and vegan diet.
- Analyze current U.S. agricultural policies in relation to environmental stewardship and human health.
- Discuss the limitations of technology as a means to solve food-related environmental problems.
- Create an action plan to improve the quality and environmental sustainability of their personal diet and emphasize sustainability in their professional activities.
Program Competencies addressed:
- Develop and utilize nutrition concepts and best-practices for nutrition and health promotion initiatives
- Apply core research principles to measure the nutrition status and environment of individuals and communities
- Develop communications and collaboration strategies with representatives from government, non-profit, community, and business entities regarding nutrition initiatives.
Assignments
Written Assignments
Action Plan for Sustainability
Each week throughout the course, you will be asked to identify at least one personal and one professional action step you can take to translate the information you learn from theory to practice. This course contains a lot of weighty information, and it’s important to walk away with an empowering plan for what you can do to make a positive difference in creating a sustainable future.
You will complete your action steps in the template below and update the document each week. We encourage you to post your action steps somewhere visible in your home as specific goals that you set for yourself. When defining your personal and professional action steps, try to use a SMART goals format (Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Relevant, Time-Limited).
Comparison of Emerging Agricultural Practices
Many emerging farming practices exist to address problems of environmental health caused by modern agriculture or other human activity. This assignment asks you to choose a problem and then research two practices that aim to address it. Assess their benefits and drawbacks, and compare their relative effectiveness in addressing a specific environmental problem.
Key Assessment: Dietary Quality and Sustainability Analysis and Presentation
Background: Identifying and promoting dietary patterns that maximize overall diet quality and health outcomes within ecologically viable parameters is essential for environmental sustainability. A challenge to accomplishing this, however, is the consumer lack of sufficient information/understanding of environmental effects in relation to dietary choices.
Purpose: The objective of the Key Assessment is to create an educational slide presentation targeted to a lay audience that focuses on the environmental impacts of dietary choices in one of the following areas. You will select the area of focus you find most compelling, or that would be best suited to deliver in a professional setting you have access to or could cultivate.
- Water use
- Health of freshwater or ocean systems
- Land use
- Pollution
- Greenhouse gas emissions
- Food waste
You will also use your own diet to demonstrate the impact of individual food choices on dietary quality and environmental sustainability and to illustrate the power of specific dietary changes.
The Dietary Environmental Index (DEX) research presented in Week 7 offers a comprehensive database of foods commonly consumed in the United States that catalogues both nutritional and environmental impact information for each food item, and applies these to the calculation of a dietary and environmental assessment score for individual foods.
Letter to Legislators
Write a letter to two legislative representatives of yours addressing an agricultural policy that does not support planetary health. Use the information you have learned in this course and write a compelling letter of concern, based on scientific evidence, with a positive, respectful tone.
Share your concerns about a national policy that may pose barriers to controlling climate change or create problems for human health, food security, ecological diversity, or pollution. Be sure to provide several suggestions that legislators can take to work towards solutions, informed by current policies that are effective in addressing these issues.
Discussions
In this course, there are weekly discussions.
You will be required to participate in discussions. Initial posts are due on Sundays, and responses are due by Tuesday. If the initial post and response are not submitted within the discussion week you will be given a zero. Posts submitted after the discussion week will not be graded.
Your success in the course relies on robust discussion, critical thinking, and peer-response. Weekly posts responding to prompts posed are meant to facilitate a deeper understanding of the broader themes of the course as well as enrich the readings, handouts, and lectures. Your initial response should be no less than 400 words. Peer-responses should be no less than 200 words and must be thoughtful, contain compliments as well as constructive criticism, and maintain a professional tone.
Furthermore, in regard to all assignments, please observe the following:
- All assignments must be completed using AMA formatting where appropriate.
- All times refer to Eastern Time (ET).
Writing Statement
As professionals in the field, you will consistently be expected to clearly and concisely articulate advanced concepts for diverse audiences at a variety of educational levels.
Graduate students are expected to produce their best quality work, including screening their work prior to submission for clarity, grammatical, spelling, formatting and mechanical issues.
While there is often a portion of each assignment’s rubric dedicated specifically to grammar, spelling, mechanics, and formatting, it is critical to understand that failure to submit work that has been adequately proofed may result in a reduction of points in other areas of the rubric. These may include, but are not limited to metrics rating professionalism or content knowledge and synthesis; work submitted in graduate courses should provide evidence of strategic reading, writing, and academic speaking skills essential for success in the discipline.
Grading Policy
Your grade in this course will be determined by the following criteria:
Grade Breakdown
| Assignments | Points |
|---|---|
| Syllabus Contract | 1 pt |
| Weekly Discussions | 32 pts (8x4 pts) |
| Emerging Agricultural Practices Assignment | 6 pts |
| Action Plan for Sustainability | 14 pts |
| Quizzes | 9 pts (3x3 pts) |
| Letter to Legislators | 5 pts |
| Key Assessment | 30 pts (10 pts + 20 pts) |
| Reflection/ePortfolio | 3 pts |
Grade Scale
| Grade | Points Grade | Point Average (GPA) |
| A | 94 – 100% | 4.00 |
| A- | 90 – 93% | 3.75 |
| B+ | 87 – 89% | 3.50 |
| B | 84 – 86% | 3.00 |
| B- | 80 – 83% | 2.75 |
| C+ | 77 – 79% | 2.50 |
| C | 74 – 76% | 2.00 |
| C- | 70 – 73% | 1.75 |
| D | 64 – 69% | 1.00 |
| F | 00 – 63% | 0.00 |
Schedule
Weekly Schedule
Week 1: Aug 30 – Sep 5
Week 2: Sep 6 – Sep 12
Week 3: Sep 13 – Sep 19
Week 4: Sep 20 – Sep 26
Week 5: Sep 27 – Oct 3
Week 6: Oct 4 – Oct 10
Week 7: Oct 11 – Oct 17
Week 8: Oct 18 – Oct 22
Major Due Dates
|
Key Assessment Part One: Steps 1-3 |
Week 5 – Tuesday |
|
Comparison of Emerging Agricultural Practices |
Week 6 – Tuesday |
|
Key Assessment Part Two: Presentation |
Week 7 – Tuesday |
|
Letter to Legislators |
Week 8 – Sunday |
| Discussion Board | Initial post is due every Sunday and all comments are due Tuesday of Week 1 through Week 7. Week 8 posts are due on the last Friday and Sunday of the term respectively. |
| Action Plan for Sustainability | Weekly, Weeks 1-7 |
Week 1: The Historical Development of Our Food System
Weekly Learning Outcomes
- Define environmental sustainability and sustainable food systems
- Identify major issues of sustainability in food systems
- Discuss cultural evolution in the context of food availability and climate
- Describe the role of the agricultural revolution in redefining society and changing the environmental impact of food production
- Discuss the limitations of technology as a means to solve food-related environmental problems
Lectures and videos
Required and Suggested Readings
See course for additional readings.
Assignments
- Action Plan introduced, first submission due in Week 1
- Key Assessment introduced
Discussion
Week 2: Traditional Diets Worldwide and Sustainability
Weekly Learning Outcomes
- Identify commonalities of traditional, health-promoting and sustainable lifestyles
- Compare the states of thriving and merely surviving, both nutritionally and environmentally.
- Assess the dietary quality and sustainability of diets from modern indigenous populations, including several outliers who have adapted to extreme climates.
- Identify disruptors compromising the planetary boundaries of our Earth systems, including rising population, food production, and climate limitations. Also, name potential solutions to these disruptors.
Lectures and videos
Required and Suggested Readings
See course for additional readings.
Assignments
- Action Plan
Discussion
Week 3: Environmental Impact of Consumer Food Choices
Weekly Learning Outcomes
- Evaluate the impact of growing food for livestock, including soil, freshwater use, ocean contamination, deforestation, and biodiversity loss.
- Compare the nutritional, caloric/energy efficiency, and environmental impacts of growing and producing food directly for human consumption vs growing and producing animal products for human consumption.
- Appraise the practice of fishing for human populations and the impact on our oceans, including overfishing.
- Identify the differences between subsistence fishing and large-scale fishing
- Describe social consequences of our modern food system including production, labor, and consumption issues
Lectures and videos
Required and Suggested Readings
See course for additional readings.
Assignments
- Action Plan
- Quiz
Discussion
Week 4: Global vs. Local Food Systems
Weekly Learning Outcomes
- Define global and local food systems
- Identify cultural and economic changes brought about by the transition from a local to global food economy
- Assess the nutritional and environmental impacts of local food economies
- Compare the environmental benefits of choosing locally raised animal foods with reducing animal foods
- Evaluate the impact of transportation on food nutrient value and energy/caloric efficiency
- Analyze modern agricultural practices that include monocropping, crop breeding, seed patents and genetically engineered seeds and crops.
Lectures and videos
Required and Suggested Readings
See course for additional readings.
Assignments
- Action Plan
- Quiz
Discussion
Week 5: Food Waste and the Impact of Western Diets on Health and Quality of Life in the U.S. and Developing Countries
Weekly Learning Outcomes
- Discuss the problem of food waste in the US and globally
- Describe the impact of food waste on our ability to feed the global population
- Define the nutrition transition and provide examples of the phenomenon
- Describe the nutritional impact of modeling Western-style diets on rates of chronic disease in developing countries
- Assess elements of the food supply chain in developed countries that contribute to poor population health and quality of life in developing countries
- Evaluate problems of social justice and hunger in developing countries created by Western-style food choices and ensuing environmental changes
- Complete a one-day food diary
Lectures and videos
Required and Suggested Readings
See course for additional readings.
Assignments
- Action Plan
- Key Assessment: Steps 1-3 due
Discussion
Week 6: Emerging Issues: Climate Change and Agricultural Practices
Weekly Learning Outcomes
- Identify food-based drivers of climate change, including methane from cattle, transportation of food, and packaging.
- Describe technologies that address greenhouse gas emissions and fossil fuel use in agriculture, including methane capture, reduction of nitrogen fertilizer, and manure management to appraise their benefits.
- Evaluate the degree to which management of the impact of livestock on the environment will address climate change.
- List strategies to control agricultural greenhouse gas emissions, environmental degradation and the efficient use of resources that also promote human health.
Lectures and videos
Required and Suggested Readings
See course for additional readings.
Assignments
- Action Plan
- Quiz
- Comparison of Emerging Agricultural Practices Assignment
Discussion
Week 7: Nutritional Adequacy and Environmental Impacts of Various Dietary Patterns
Weekly Learning Outcomes
- Define and describe the components of the following diets: Western, “prudent”, Mediterranean, vegetarian, and vegan
- Compare the nutritional benefits and drawbacks of each dietary pattern
- Summarize the environmental impacts of following one of these specific diets
Lectures and videos
Required and Suggested Readings
See course for additional readings.
Assignments
- Action Plan
- Key Assessment: Presentation due
Discussion
Week 8: Agricultural Policy, Environmental Stewardship, and Human Health
Weekly Learning Outcomes
- Identify national policies in place related to diet and agriculture that may pose barriers to controlling climate change.
- Compare the benefits and drawbacks of agricultural policies that affect communities and food security, including subsidies for commodities, grazing and water rights, waste, GMOs, and manure lagoons.
- Discuss public policy solutions that specifically address global warming, including the Green New Deal, environmental protection laws, and global limitations on greenhouse gas from agriculture
- Contribute to sustainable solutions on an individual and societal level.
Lectures and videos
Required and Suggested Readings
See course for additional readings
Assignments
- Letter to Legislators
- Reflection/ePortfolio Assignment
Discussion
Student Resources
Online Student Support
Your Student Support Specialist is a resource for you. Please don't hesitate to contact them for assistance, including, but not limited to course planning, current problems or issues in a course, technology concerns, or personal emergencies.
Questions? Visit the Student Support Applied Nutrition page
UNE Libraries:
- Library Access for all students: Your library login ID and password are the same as the ones you use to log into Brightspace.
- Applied Nutrition Database
- Library Questions: Ask a librarian or phone library staff at (207) 602-2361 or (207) 221-4330.
UNE Student Academic Success Center
The Student Academic Success Center (SASC) offers a range of services to support your academic achievement, including tutoring, writing support, test prep and studying strategies, learning style consultations, and many online resources. To make an appointment for tutoring, writing support, or a learning specialist consultation, go to une.tutortrac.com. To access our online resources, including links, guides, and video tutorials, please visit:
Information Technology Services (ITS)
- ITS Contact: Toll Free Help Desk 24 hours/7 days per week at 1-877-518-4673
Accommodations
Any student who would like to request, or ask any questions regarding, academic adjustments or accommodations must contact the Student Access Center at (207) 221-4438 or pcstudentaccess@une.edu. Student Access Center staff will evaluate the student's documentation and determine eligibility of accommodation(s) through the Student Access Center registration procedure.
Online Peer Support
Togetherall is a 24/7 communication and emotional support platform monitored by trained clinicians. It’s a safe place online to get things off your chest, have conversations, express yourself creatively, and learn how to manage your mental health. If sharing isn’t your thing, Togetherall has other tools and courses to help you look after yourself with plenty of resources to explore. Whether you’re struggling to cope, feeling low, or just need a place to talk, Togetherall can help you explore your feelings in a safe supportive environment. You can join Togetherall using your UNE email address.
Information Technology Services (ITS)
Students should notify their Student Support Specialist and instructor in the event of a problem relating to a course. This notification should occur promptly and proactively to support timely resolution.
ITS Contact: Toll-Free Help Desk 24 hours/7 days per week at 1-877-518-4673.
Career Ready Program
The College of Professional Studies supports its online students and alumni in their career journey!
The Career Ready Program provides tools and resources to help students explore and hone in on their career goals, search for jobs, create and improve professional documents, build professional network, learn interview skills, grow as a professional, and more. Come back often, at any time, as you move through your journey from career readiness as a student to career growth, satisfaction, and success as alumni.
Policies
AMA Writing Style Statement
In keeping with the requirements of the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, the American Medical Association (AMA) Manual of Style, 11th edition is the required writing format for this course and is available at both UNE libraries under the title "AMA Manual." Additional support for academic writing and AMA format is provided throughout the coursework as well as at the UNE Portal for Online Students.
Online resources: AMA Style Guide
Turnitin Originality Check and Plagiarism Detection Tool
The College of Professional Studies uses Turnitin to help deter plagiarism and to foster the proper attribution of sources. Turnitin provides comparative reports for submitted assignments that reflect similarities in other written works. This can include, but is not limited to, previously submitted assignments, internet articles, research journals, and academic databases.
Make sure to cite your sources appropriately as well as use your own words in synthesizing information from published literature. Webinars and workshops, included early in your coursework, will help guide best practices in AMA citation and academic writing.
You can learn more about Turnitin in the guide on how to navigate your Similarity Report.
Late Policy
Assignments: Assignments submitted after the due date and time will receive a deduction of 10% of the total possible grade for each day it is late. After three days, the assignment will not be accepted. No assignments will be accepted after the course ends.
Discussion posts: If the initial post is submitted late, acceptance of the discussion board is at the discretion of the faculty. Any posts submitted after the end of the Discussion Board week will not be graded (does not apply to practicum).
Students are encouraged to make every effort ahead of time to contact their instructor and their student support specialist if they are not able to meet an assignment deadline. Arrangements for extenuating circumstances may be considered by faculty.
Technology Requirements
Please review the technical requirements for UNE Online Graduate Programs: Technical Requirements
Course Evaluation Policy
Course surveys are one of the most important tools that University of New England uses for evaluating the quality of your education, and for providing meaningful feedback to instructors on their teaching. In order to assure that the feedback is both comprehensive and precise, we need to receive it from each student for each course. Evaluation access is distributed via UNE email at the beginning of the last week of the course.
Attendance Policy
8 week: Students taking online graduate courses through the College of Professional Studies will be administratively dropped for non-participation if a graded assignment/discussion post is not submitted before Sunday at 11:59 pm ET of the first week of the term. Reinstatement is at the purview of the Dean's Office.
16 week: Students taking online graduate courses through the College of Professional Studies will be administratively dropped for non-participation if a graded assignment/discussion post is not submitted before Friday at 11:59 pm ET of the second week of the term. Reinstatement is at the purview of the Dean's Office.
Student Handbook Online - Policies and Procedures
The policies contained within this document apply to all students in the College of Professional Studies. It is each student's responsibility to know the contents of this handbook.
UNE Course Withdrawal
Please contact your student support specialist if you are considering dropping or withdrawing from a course. The last day to drop for 100% tuition refund is the 2nd day of the course. Financial Aid charges may still apply. Students using Financial Aid should contact the Financial Aid Office prior to withdrawing from a course.
Academic Integrity
The University of New England values academic integrity in all aspects of the educational experience. Academic dishonesty in any form undermines this standard and devalues the original contributions of others. It is the responsibility of all members of the University community to actively uphold the integrity of the academy; failure to act, for any reason, is not acceptable. For information about plagiarism and academic misconduct, please visit UNE Plagiarism Policies.
Academic dishonesty includes, but is not limited to the following:
- Cheating, copying, or the offering or receiving of unauthorized assistance or information.
- Fabrication or falsification of data, results, or sources for papers or reports.
- Action which destroys or alters the work of another student.
- Multiple submissions of the same paper or report for assignments in more than one course without permission of each instructor.
- Plagiarism, the appropriation of records, research, materials, ideas, or the language of other persons or writers and the submission of them as one's own.
Charges of academic dishonesty will be reviewed by the Program Director. Penalties for students found responsible for violations may depend upon the seriousness and circumstances of the violation, the degree of premeditation involved, and/or the student’s previous record of violations. Appeal of a decision may be made to the Dean whose decision will be final. Student appeals will take place through the grievance process outlined in the student handbook.