Syllabus
Science Prerequisites for Health Professionals
NTRN 1010: Principles of Human Nutrition | Fall 2017
Credits - 3
Description
Overview
This is a one-semester course, designed for individuals with a baccalaureate degree who need an introductory nutrition course as a prerequisite to apply for admission to health professions programs. These may include graduate programs in medicine, veterinary medicine, dental medicine, nursing, physical therapy and physician assistant.
Emphasis is placed on the nutrient requirements of healthy individuals’ food sources, nutrient categories and their characteristics, physiological functions, and metabolism. The role of nutrition in health promotion and disease prevention will discussed in relation to personal health choices and with applications for students contemplating careers in the health professions.
Instructor and Support Contact Information
Check the course welcome page in Blackboard for specific instructor and support specialist contact information.
Further Assistance:
Your support specialist, listed on the course welcome page, monitors course progression and provides assistance or guidance when needed. They can assist questions regarding ordering course materials, University policies, billing, navigating the course in Blackboard, and more.
Study Lounge
The Study Lounge Discussion Board is a designated support forum in which students may engage with each other and grapple with course content. Feel free to post questions, seek clarification, and support each other, but be mindful of UNE’s Academic Integrity Policy.
Your instructor will monitor this forum. However, if you are seeking specific and timely answers to questions about content-matter or your personal grades, please contact your instructor via course messages. For questions about course materials, program policy, and how to navigate and proceed through the course, please contact your Student Support Specialist through the course messaging system.
Materials
Learning Objectives and Outcomes
The objectives of this course are designed to facilitate your construction of conceptual models to describe physical ideas that are the foundation of sciences that you may encounter in your professional studies.
By the end of the course, you will be able to:
- Analyze the multiple processes involved in the body’s handling of nutrients and alcohol, beginning with consumption and ending with waste excretion.
- Characterize the classes of nutrients in terms of their general functions in the body, effects of deficiencies and toxicities, and their food sources.
- Apply biological, biochemical, and physiologic scientific principles to nutrition practice to help improve the nutritional health of individuals and communities.
- Analyze the role of nutrition in health promotion and disease prevention in order to inform research-based recommendations about healthy food choices.
- Evaluate individual and personal dietary intake for nutritional adequacy to promote healthy eating habits.
- Differentiate legitimate and professional nutrition research from food faddism or fraudulent medical information to communicate sound nutrition practices to various audiences.
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
Lectures and Laboratories
Course Details
Following the first 13 chapters of the textbook, Principles of Human Nutrition is a 16-week course, grouped within 5 topical units. Each unit contains:
- A component of the diet assessment project
- A class discussion
- Weekly activities, which may include
- Readings
- Video lectures
- A pre-assessment
- Quizzes
- Reflections
Pre-assessments
Successful comprehension of nutrition concepts requires practice, diligence, and motivation. After reading the text and engaging with the lecture material, the pre-assessments serve to help you test your understanding. These ungraded self assessments can be taken as many times as you want, letting you know what you need to work on and allowing you to revisit and review the materials to reassess. When you’re confident with the material, begin the weekly quiz.
Diet Assessment
The diet assessment asks that you analyze your food intake and physical activity.
Reflections
You will be asked to watch certain videos and submit a reflection on it. These videos address important issues in the field of nutrition.
Discussion Board Posts
Discussion questions cover interesting current events or materials that contribute to a deeper understanding of key concepts and allow you to interact with your classmates and the instructor. There are a total of five required discussion questions throughout the quarter that will count towards your discussion grade for the unit. Each question will require you to read additional materials (a short journal or magazine article), visit a specific webpage, and/or view a short video. Then you will write a response following the guidelines in the assignment.
To earn full credit: you will need to post a response, respond to the original posts of at least one other student, and then contribute to an ongoing discussion. 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.
Discussion Question Guidelines
- Read the assignment carefully so that you are familiar with the materials that you need to cover and how to craft your post.
- Respect each other’s ideas, feelings, and experience. Some of the questions involve areas of disagreement. Expect your classmates to have different opinions.
- Use proper writing style. Correct spelling and sentence structure are expected just as if you were writing a regular paper. Use spell check and grammar check before you submit.
- Draft your posting in a Word document. That way, you can save a copy and use spell check and grammar check.
- Cite the sources that you use to write your response. Follow the AMA guidelines.
- Avoid posting large blocks of text. Break your writing into paragraphs and use a space between paragraphs to make your posting easier to read online.
- Use the “reply” button rather than the “compose” button when responding to someone else’s post.
- When responding to a classmate, address them by name.
- Do not use postings such as “I agree,” “I don’t know either,” or “ditto.” They do not add to the discussion, and they will not be counted.
- Everyone benefits from an active discussion. Check back in frequently to see what others are saying.
- Plan your time carefully. You will need to give your classmates time to respond to your postings. This is an asynchronous class in which not everyone signs in at the same time.
Examination and Grading Information
Mid-Term and Final Exams
There will be a 2 hour proctored midterm exam and a 3 hour proctored final exam. Exams begin and end promptly with scheduled times. Be prepared to stay in the exam room for the entire time. The exams are closed book and are administered online via web proctoring – you will be required to follow all the proctor’s requests.
Grading Policy
Your grade in this course will be determined by the following criteria:
Grade Breakdown
| Assessment Type | Percentage of Final Grade |
|---|---|
| Unit Discussions | 10% |
| Weekly Quizzes | 20% |
| Reflection Activities | 5% |
| Midterm | 20% |
| Final | 20% |
| Diet Assessment | 25% |
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
The single-attempt weekly quizzes are automatically graded and will provide you with complete feedback immediately after completion. The components of the Diet Assessment and discussion board posts are graded with rubrics by your instructor. The mid term exam should be taken after you have completed all the assessments through week 8. The final exam should not be taken until all the other assignments are completed. Exams taken online with ProctorU will be graded immediately. While you will see your proctored exam scores, you will not have access to your exams once you have submitted it for a grade. You may contact your instructor regarding specific feedback, however no exams will be released to the students.
Course Outline
This course is designed to be completed in a 16-week period, just like an on-campus course. One week in this online course is equivalent to three 50-minute lectures in a traditional classroom setting. The general rule of studying for science courses is to spend 3 hours studying for every one hour that you are in class. Therefore, the suggested study time for each module is 9 hours above and beyond the time it takes to listen to the lecture. Please refer to the schedule below for the suggested schedule of lectures and the accompanying laboratory exercises. Students may complete the course in less than 16 weeks.
|
Unit |
Week |
Title |
Textbook Chapter |
Discussion Assignment |
Diet Assessment Project |
|
1 |
1 |
Nutrition: Food for Health |
1 |
||
|
1 |
2 |
Nutrition Guidelines: Applying the Science of Nutrition |
2 |
Discussion Board Topic 1 | Diet Assessment Project Part 1 |
|
2 |
3 |
Carbohydrates: Sugars, Starches, and Fiber |
4 |
||
|
2 |
4 |
Lipids: Triglycerides, Phospholipids, and Cholesterol |
5 |
||
|
2 |
5 |
Proteins and Amino Acids |
6 |
Discussion Board Topic 2 | Diet Assessment Project Part 2 |
|
3 |
6 |
Energy Balance and Weight Management |
7 |
||
|
3 |
7 |
Nutrition and Physical Activity |
13 |
||
|
3 |
8 |
Focus 1: Alchohol |
|||
|
3 |
9 |
Midterm Exam | Discussion Board Topic 3 | Diet Assessment Project Part 3 | |
|
4 |
10 |
The Water-Soluble Vitamins |
8 |
||
|
4 |
11 |
The Fat-Soluble Vitamins |
9 |
||
|
4 |
12 |
Focus 4: Dietary Supplements |
Discussion Board Topic 4 | Diet Assessment Project Part 4 | |
|
5 |
13 |
Water and the Electrolytes | 10 | ||
|
5 |
14 |
Major Minerals and Bone Health |
11 |
||
|
5 |
15 |
The Trace Minerals |
12 |
||
|
5 |
16 |
Final Exam |
|
Discussion Board Topic 5 | Diet Assessment Project Part 5 |
Student Resources
Discussion Board Post and Response Rubric
|
Criteria |
Poor |
Fair |
Good |
Excellent |
|
Comprehension |
Initial response to discussion prompt does not address the question(s). The ideas presented are not supported by relevant information from the readings and lectures. |
Initial response only partially addresses the question. Only some of the ideas refer to relevant information. |
Initial response to discussion prompt generally addresses the question(s) through adequate organization and relevant detail. The ideas in the initial post and response post relate to information from the readings and lectures presented in the course. |
Initial response to discussion prompt clearly and concisely addresses the question(s) with clarity of organization and appropriate detail. The ideas in the initial post and response post relate to information from the readings and lectures presented in the course, and include additional references from outside the course. |
|
Critical Thinking |
Initial response is not based on the context of the information presented. Initial and follow up responses reflect an obvious perspective, not complex consideration of the issue. Responses do not add to the conversation. |
Only portion of the initial response is based on the context of the information presented. Initial and follow up responses consider carefully the issue and may suggest solutions or add to the conversation in other ways. |
Initial response is broad, presenting a position that is based generally on the context of the information presented. Initial and follow up responses provide basic perspective, not a complex consideration of the issue. Response contributes to the conversation. |
Initial response is insightful and credible, presenting a position based on specific contexts of the information presented. Initial and follow up responses provide perspective, taking into account complexities and limitations of the issue. Initial or follow up response presents conclusions or outcomes that are related to a specific position, acknowledges the limitations of the position, synthesizes other points of view, or somehow makes a meaningful contribution to the conversation. |
|
Formatting and Mechanics |
Post and responses do not adhere to stated word counts and contain numerous mechanical and/or formatting errors. |
Post and responses mostly adhere to stated word counts and contain some mechanical and/or formatting errors. | Post and responses adhere to stated word counts and contain little to no mechanical and/or formatting errors. | Post and responses adhere to stated word counts and contain no mechanical and/or formatting errors. |
Diet Assessment Assignment Rubric: Unit One
|
Criteria |
Poor |
Fair |
Good |
Excellent |
|
Assignment contains three-day record of food consumed. All details outlined in prompt are addressed. |
Assignment does not contain three-day record or record lacks major details. |
Assignment contains three-day record, but lacks detail. |
Assignment contains three-day record of food consumed that contains all necessary detail. |
Assignment contains detailed and considered three-day record of food consumed. |
|
Assignment contains three-day record of physical activity. |
Assignment does not contain three-day record or record lacks major details. |
Assignment contains three-day record, but lacks detail. |
Assignment contains detailed three-day record. |
Assignment contains detailed and considered three-day record. |
|
Assignment provides detailed answers to follow-up questions. |
Assignment fails to answer follow-up questions or answers lack details and/or are incomplete. |
Assignment answers follow-up questions but answers lack detail. |
Assignment answers follow-up questions in some detail. |
Assignment answers follow-up questions in great detail. |
|
Grammar and mechanics. |
Assignment contains numerous grammatical and mechanical errors. |
Assignment contains some grammatical and mechanical errors. |
Assignment contains few grammatical and mechanical errors. |
Assignment contains no grammatical and/or mechanical errors. |
Diet Assessment Assignment Rubric: Unit Two
|
Criteria |
Poor |
Fair |
Good |
Excellent |
|
Assignment contains Nutrient Report. |
Assignment does not contain report. |
N/A |
N/A |
Assignment contains report. |
|
Assignment addresses all follow-up questions |
Assignment does not address follow-up questions and/or answers are mostly incomplete. |
Assignment addresses follow-up questions. Some answers may lack detail. |
Assignment adequately addresses follow-up questions. |
Assignment addresses follow-up questions in great detail. |
|
Grammar and mechanics |
Assignment contains numerous grammatical and/or mechanical errors. |
Assignment contains some grammatical and/or mechanical errors. |
Assignment contains few grammatical and/or mechanical errors. |
Assignment contains no grammatical and/or mechanical errors. |
Diet Assessment Assignment Rubric: Unit Three
|
Criteria |
Poor |
Fair |
Good |
Excellent |
|
Assignment contains Physical Activity report. |
Assignment does not contain report. |
N/A |
N/A |
Assignment contains report. |
|
Assignment addresses questions and prompts outlined in Part Two. |
Assignment fails to address all and/or most questions and prompts outlined in Part Two. |
Assignment addresses most of the questions and prompts outlined in Part Two. |
Assignment addresses all the questions and prompts outlined in Part Two. |
Assignment addresses questions and prompts outlined in Part Two in great detail. |
|
Grammar and mechanics. |
Assignment contains numerous grammatical and/or mechanical errors. |
Assignment contains some grammatical and/or mechanical errors. |
Assignment contains few grammatical and/or mechanical errors. |
Assignment contains no grammatical and/or mechanical errors. |
Diet Assessment Assignment Rubric: Unit Four
|
Criteria |
Poor |
Fair |
Good |
Excellent |
|
Assignment evaluates vitamin intake. |
Assignment fails to evaluate vitamin intake. |
Assignment provides partial evaluation of vitamin intake. |
Assignment evaluates vitamin intake. |
Assignment evaluates vitamin intake in great detail. |
|
Assignment lists ways to rectify deficiencies and/or excess. |
Assignment fails to list ways to rectify deficiencies and/or excess. |
Assignment offers ways to rectify deficiencies and/or excess, but discussion lacks detail. |
Assignment offers ways to rectify deficiencies and/or excess. |
Assignment offers ways to rectify deficiencies and/or excess in great detail. |
|
Assignment addresses whether or not supplement is necessary. |
Assignment fails to address whether or not supplement is necessary. |
Assignment addresses whether or not supplement is necessary, but discussion may lack detail. |
Assignment addresses whether or not supplement is necessary. |
Assignment addresses in great detail whether or not supplement is necessary. |
|
Grammar and mechanics. |
Assignment contains numerous grammatical and/or mechanical errors. |
Assignment contains some grammatical and/or mechanical errors |
Assignment contains few grammatical and/or mechanical errors. |
Assignment contains no grammatical and/or mechanical errors. |
Diet Assessment Assignment Rubric: Unit Five
|
Criteria |
Poor |
Fair |
Good |
Excellent |
|
Assignment evaluates mineral intake. |
Assignment fails to evaluate mineral intake. |
Assignment evaluates mineral intake, but some details are missing. |
Assignment evaluates mineral intake. |
Assignment evaluates mineral intake in great detail |
|
Assignment lists ways to rectify deficiencies and/or excess. |
Assignment fails to list ways to rectify deficiencies and/or excess. |
Assignment lists ways to rectify deficiencies and/or excess, but some details are missing. |
Assignment lists ways to rectify deficiencies and/or excess. |
Assignment lists in great detail how to rectify deficiencies and/or excess. |
|
Assignment addresses whether or not supplement is appropriate. |
Assignment fails to address whether or not supplement is appropriate. |
Assignment addresses whether or not supplement is appropriate, but some details are missing. |
Assignment addresses whether or not supplement is appropriate. |
Assignment addresses in great detail whether or not supplement is appropriate. |
|
Grammar and mechanics. |
Assignment contains numerous grammatical and/or mechanical errors. |
Assignment contains some grammatical and/or mechanical errors |
Assignment contains few grammatical and/or mechanical errors. |
Assignment contains no grammatical and/or mechanical errors. |
Online Student Support
Your Student Support Specialist is a resource for you - they will monitor course progression and provide assistance or guidance when needed. Please don’t hesitate to contact them for assistance, including, but not limited to course planning, course materials, billing, current problems or issues in a course, technology concerns, or personal emergencies.
Questions? Visit the Student Support Science Prerequisites page
Instructor and Support Contact Information
Check Brightspace for specific instructor and support specialist contact information.
Student Lounge
The Student Lounge Discussion Board is a designated support forum in which students may engage with each other and grapple with course content. Feel free to post questions, seek clarification, and support each other, but be mindful of UNE's Academic Integrity Policy.
Your instructor will monitor this forum. However, if you are seeking specific and timely answers to questions about course content or your personal grades, please contact your instructor via course messages. For questions about course materials, program policy, and how to navigate and proceed through the course, please contact your Student Service Advisor through the Student Portal.
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.
Policies
Proctored Examinations
The University of New England has contracted with ProctorU to provide students with the most convenient online exam proctoring system. This system provides a simple, no cost to the student, secure, online proctor for exams and allows the student to take all the exams at home and on their own schedule.
Upon enrollment into the course, each student will register with ProctorU and establish a login name and password. This will give the student access to all of ProctorU's services. When ready, students will schedule each of their proctored exams with ProctorU. Exams must be scheduled at least 72 hours in advance to avoid fees. Prior to taking their exams, students must be sure that they have downloaded the ProctorU Chrome or Firefox extension and are using the most current version of Chrome or Firefox. They must also be sure their testing site's connection meets the minimum requirements by using ProctorU's "Test It Out" utility.
Upon the exam day and hour, students will log in to ProctorU and click on "exams". After following the procedures outlined at ProctorU's web site, the student will log in to Brightspace and locate their correct exam. The proctor will then allow student access to that exam.
Students must use ProctorU and must follow all proctoring requirements for their exams to be credited.
Proctored exams are not available for review at any time. You will not be able to see the questions, nor the answers you've given, after completing the exams. Please contact your instructor for specific feedback.
Course Discussions
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: you will need to post a response to the discussion topic, respond 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. Please keep in mind that only this initial response is included in your assignment grade, so make sure you have followed all of the guidelines and written a complete response prior to submitting the post. 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, along with specific guidelines, for each assignment. 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.
Please also refer to the Grading Policy/Grade Breakdown section of the syllabus to learn the percentage of your grade that each discussion board assignment is worth.
Technology Requirements
Please review the technical requirements for UNE Online Programs: Technical Requirements
Course Length
A schedule of lectures and assignments is included in this syllabus. This is, however a self-paced course and you can complete the course in less time.
- Courses in the SPHP program are equivalent to one-semester courses designed to be completed in 16 weeks
- Enrollment in the course begins the day your section opens which is listed in the Academic Calendar found on the Student Success Portal.
- Course start and end dates are in respect to Eastern Time.
Withdrawal and Refund Policies
Please visit the enrollment page to review the withdrawal and refund policies.
Grade Policy
Students are expected to attempt and complete all graded assignments and proctored exams by the end date of the course. View the incomplete grade policy..
Transcripts
Due to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, only the student may request official transcripts. This may be done online by going to the University of New England Registrar website and following the directions on the page.
To view your unofficial UNE student transcript:
- Log into uonline at http://uonline.une.edu
- Select Student Services
- Select Student Records
- Select Academic Transcript
To request your official UNE student transcript:
Please review your Unofficial Transcript prior to requesting an Official Transcript.
- Log into uonline at http://uonline.une.edu
- Select Student Services
- Select Student Records
- Select Request Printed/Official Transcript
- Follow the prompts
After you click Submit Request, your official transcript will be put into the queue to be printed in the Registrar's Office.
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.
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 submission 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.