Syllabus

Science Prerequisites for Health Professionals

EXSP 1010: Exercise Physiology (Spring 2025)

Credits - 3

Description

Exercise Physiology is a fully online course that provides students with a solid theoretical basis of exercise physiology as it relates to human movement, health, wellness, sport, and performance. We will focus on the practical application of exercise physiology principles including biomechanics, neuromuscular, metabolic, pulmonary, cardiovascular and endocrine responses to exercise and training. Additionally, we will also focus on practical applications of performance enhancement techniques, interaction within a multidisciplinary team, and human adaptive responses to exercise. Utilizing interactive technology, through a series of knowledge assessments, reading assignments, interactive discussions, real-world application analysis, and research projects, students will demonstrate both exercise physiology core-concepts and exercise physiology applications. 

You will be asked to perform physical activity at various points during this online course. With the majority of our testing in this course, this will involve physical exertion and you should check with your medical professional before attempting any of these exercises to determine if you are well enough for physical exertion. If there is any concern, reach out to the instructor during the first week for alternate assignments for these activities (in Weeks 8 and 9).

Materials

Learning Objectives and Outcomes

Program Outcomes

In lecture courses, students should be able to:

• Communicate scientific concepts and information clearly.
• Illustrate fundamental laws, theories, and principles of scientific disciplines.
• Apply knowledge and critical thinking skills to scientific problems.

Course Objectives

After successfully completing this course, students will be able to:

• Explore the field of Exercise Physiology by investigating various applications, career paths, and testing modalities used within health, wellness and sport performance settings.
• Analyze how the musculoskeletal and neuromuscular systems operate and interact with various types of physical activity.  
• Explain the basic metabolic responses and training adaptations that occur during physical activity.
• Demonstrate competencies to apply physiological adaptations to exercise on various systems of the body. 
• Evaluate how environmental factors such as temperature, altitude, and nutrition affect the various systems of the body during physical activity.
• Identify the appropriate testing measures necessary to evaluate various physiological processes based on demographic identifiers.
• Evaluate data collected via various physiological tests and laboratory procedures used in exercise physiology.

SELF PACED DESIGN

On the course start date, students will have access to orientation. This must be completed to be able to gain access to the first module in the course. Students must complete the first module to gain access to the next one. We recommend that students spend about 15 hours per week to complete a course in 16 weeks. When trying to complete the course in less than 16 weeks, we typically see students do this successfully within 12-14 weeks. Instructors will be timely in grading and feedback, but it will not be instant.

Assignments

Refer to the Grade Breakdown diagram and table below for the percent value of assignments toward your total grade. See the course schedule below for where assignments occur in the course. All assignments should be completed in the order that they appear. Due to the course design, you may be unable to take a proctored exam if you do not complete all assignments that appear prior to that exam.

Discussions

There are three discussions within this course, found in Weeks 1-3, 5, and 13. The discussion that begins in Week 1 continues through Weeks 2 and 3. This discussion requires participation during the first three weeks to receive full credit. Discussion board assignments cover interesting current events or materials related to this course that contribute to a deeper understanding of key concepts and allow you to interact with your classmates and the instructor. Each assignment may require you to conduct internet research, read additional materials (a short journal or magazine article), visit a specific webpage, and/or view a short video prior to writing a response following the specific guidelines in the assignment. 

To earn full credit (50pts), you will need to post an initial response (at least 300 words) to the discussion topic, respond (at least 250 words each) to the original posts of at least two other students, and then contribute meaningfully to an ongoing discussion. You will need to post your initial response before you will see any posts from your classmates. A substantive post demonstrates comprehension (understanding, depth, and breadth of the material) and critical thinking (insight and comparison). Responding with “I agree/disagree; thanks for the feedback;” or “Nice job with your post;” or something similar is not considered a substantive post.

Please refer to the discussion rubric found in Brightspace for a detailed look at what is included in your assignment grade and to ensure that you have followed all of the guidelines and written a complete response prior to submitting the post. All posts must follow APA 7th Ed. In-text and reference citation guidelines. For special cases where one or two students are accelerating faster through the course, the instructor will participate in the discussion so that everyone has the opportunity to interact.

Please see Brightspace for a full description of each assignment along with specific guidelines. Discussion board assignments should be completed, along with all other assignments in the course, in the order that they appear. Due to the course design, you may be unable to take a proctored exam if you do not complete all assignments that appear prior to that exam. If students start working on any activity of the following Week but have left portions of the previous discussion incomplete, the discussion will be graded.

Labster Virtual Simulation Assignments & Assessments 

This course uses a third-party platform called Labster, an innovative virtual laboratory used to enhance your knowledge of the subjects covered within this course by allowing you to interact with a virtual three-dimensional simulation. The virtual laboratory will be used during Weeks 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, and 16. Each simulation will take between 15 – 60 minutes to complete and will include a graded assessment embedded within the simulation. Please be aware the simulation within Week 16 is part of the final project for this course. 

Once you complete the virtual simulation in the Labster platform, notify your instructor. Your corresponding grade will be reviewed and added into Brightspace as part of your final grade for the course. For a detailed review of the requirements of Labster please see the Resources section of the syllabus. 

Labster Simulations in Exercise Physiology, by Week

Week 1

Lab Safety

Week 2

Muscle Tissues: An Overview

Week 3

Skeletal Muscle

Week 4

Introduction to Food Macromolecules

Week 5

Homeostatic Control

Week 6

Cellular Respiration: Measuring Energy Consumption during Exercise

Week 7 

Cell Membranes and Transport

Week 8

Cardiovascular Function during Exercise

Week 10

Cellular Respiration: Glycolysis

Cellular Respiration: The Krebs Cycle

Week 11

Cellular Respiration: The Electron Transport Chain

Week 16: Final Project

Exercise Physiology

Case Study Assignments

There will be four case study assignments in this course that will require participation in multiple modules. These assignments will be found in Weeks 4 and 5, 8, 9, and 12. Elements of the assignments in Weeks 8 and 9 will be used for the final project in Week 16. Please refer to Brightspace for a detailed breakdown of the requirements for each assignment.

There will be physical requirements and movement elements involved within Weeks 8 and 9, and as with the majority of the exercise physiology testing in this course, this will involve physical exertion: You should check with your medical professional before attempting any of these exercises to determine if you are healthy enough for physical exertion. If you feel that you are not physically able to complete these exercises, please contact your instructor for an alternative assignment.

Weeks 4 and 5 you will be asked to conduct a three-day food journal. This two-part assignment will require you to track your food intake for three consecutive days via a food journal (Week 4) and later analyze and discuss the macro and micronutrient elements (Week 5). 

Week 8 will require physical exertion to determine various heart rate metrics you will later use for analysis. Find your resting heart rate and your maximal heart rate by using either an electronic device (smart watch, heart rate monitor, pulse oxy, etc.) or traditional methods (find your pulse and count method). Using a heart rate monitor or wearable device are the preferred methods

Week 9 will require physical excursion to determine your VO2 max using two cost-effective methods: the Uth-Sørensen-Overgaard-Pedersen estimation equation and the Rockport fitness test.

Week 12 you will be asked to reproduce the Krebs cycle. This assignment will require you to draw, label, describe, and explain the significance of all elements within the Krebs cycle.  

Module Quizzes

There will be 9 graded quizzes found in this course. Weeks 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 11, 14, and 15 will contain quizzes that will assess your theoretical and applied understanding of the content covered in the corresponding module. Quiz length will range from 5 to 10 questions (multiple choice, short answer, fill-in-the-blank, and matching) and will range from 9 to 20 points in value toward your final grade. Your course allows for a possible second attempt with quizzes and/or assignments. Please contact your course instructor if you wish to utilize another attempt. Further details about these assignments can be found within the course.

These quizzes will assess your practical understanding of exercise physiology and will assist your study for both the midterm exam (Week 7) and final project (Week 16). 

Practice Proctored Exam

There is a highly recommended Practice Proctored Exam available to all students. The first attempt is free. This exam does not cover course material and is not included in your overall course grade. It prepares test takers for what the testing environment will be like, what forms of identification are needed, and provides a chance to test your external webcam with a live proctor. This is a great way to become familiar with and prepare for your exam!

Proctored Midterm Exam

There is one proctored exam in this course during Week 7. The University of New England has contracted with Honorlock to provide students with the most convenient online exam proctoring system.

Please refer to the full requirements for proctored exams in the Policies section below.

Midterm Exam: Will consist of 40 multiple choice questions (theoretical and practical applications) worth 80 points and will cover the content and learning outcomes studied during Modules 2 through 7. The content covered will include material from the textbook, Labster simulations, and video content within each module. You will have 60 minutes to complete the midterm. 

The midterm is closed book, closed notes, and no additional resources may be used during the exam. The exam is also closed for review. You will not be able to review these exams at any time. You may contact your instructor for specific feedback on your exam.

You must purchase the Official UNE External Webcam to take your proctored examinations. Remember to order your webcam at least three weeks prior to scheduling your first proctored exam.

Final Project

The final project of this course, found in Week 16, will consist of multiple elements, including a Labster simulation, information from Week 8 and Week 9 assignments, and short answer responses. The total final project will be worth 200 points toward your final grade. Please see Week 16 for a detailed breakdown of the final project.

Part 1 of the final project involves completion of the Labster simulation and will take around 30 minutes to complete and will consist of 13 theory-based questions worth 130 points toward your final grade. 

Part 2 of the final project involves the short answer written assignment (minimum 1,000 words) worth 70 points toward your final grade. 

Grading Policy

Your grade in this course will be determined by the following criteria:

Grade Breakdown

Assignment Category	Grade
Discussions	20%
Quizzes	5%
Simulation Assignments	30%
Assignments	5%
Midterm Exam	15%
Final Project	25%
Total	100%

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