Course Title: FScN 1112, Principles of Nutrition (3 cr) Spring 2013
STUDENTS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR:
· All information included in the syllabus and orientation
· Class Moodle schedule and announcements posted there
· Reading and responding as needed to emails from instructors
Class orientation is online either via powerpoint or mp4 file. Please:
· view this by the first day of class
· make sure that you download and read all of the documents covered in the orientation
Instructor: Linda J. Brady, PhD; Office—136E Andrew Boss Labs, St. Paul; Office Phone—612-624-9211; Email: . TAs are assigned; their emails can be found on the class website. The FScN Department FAX number is: 612-625-5272. FScN mailboxes are in Room 225 FScN Building, St. Paul Campus 55108-6099.
How Can You Contact Us if You Need Help?
Most students use email for simple questions. The TAs are available by appointment to help you with study skills, as well as questions on understanding of the chapters and powerpoints. Please contact Linda Brady for specific questions on quizzes that you take, i.e. if you want to contest a question or answer. Our office hours are flexible: feel free to contact instructor or TAs anytime by email, by phone, or make an in person appointment. Most students use email for simple questions. Please also contact instructor or TAs as a way for us to get to know you; often students need contacts and references and it helps if we know you as more than a name and number.
Accommodations for Students with Special Needs
The University of Minnesota is committed to providing all students equal access to learning opportunities. Disability Services is the campus office that works with students who have disabilities to provide and/or arrange reasonable accommodations. Students registered with Disability Services, who have a letter requesting accommodations, are encouraged to contact the instructor early in the semester. Students who have, or think they may have, a disability (e.g. psychiatric, attentional, learning, vision, hearing, physical, or systemic), are invited to contact Disability Services for a confidential discussion at 612-626-1333 (V/TTY) or at . Additional information is available at the DS website http://ds.umn.edu. AHC students should contact Barbara Blacklock at or Sara Hegge at at Disability Services if you have any questions.
“Any student who has concerns regarding a condition that s/he knows or anticipates will significantly affect the ability to complete the required readings, written assignments or access to electronic documentation needs to speak with the instructor at the end of the first week of class. Upon discussion of the extent to which the student’s performance in the class may be impaired, the instructor and student will collaborate to create a plan to complete assignments in an equitable and efficient manner.”
If you have a disability, which requires accommodation in this course, please contact instructor by Friday of the first week of class. We will make appropriate accommodations and we will be happy to work with the Disability Services. However, if you do not contact us by this time, we will accommodate you only from the time we receive your documentation.
Course Description:
What Can You Expect in this Class?
Nutrition is both a science and social science. This class involves social aspects, but mainly concerns the biochemistry and physiology of how food is processed in the body. The chapters on carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and metabolism especially are built on biology and physiology. Please think about this and decide if this class is really for you, given your workloads and other responsibilities. Also please pay attention to the “how to study for quizzes” and the “quiz study guides” for each chapter/quiz, as these will help you. This is NOT a class to take if you are looking for an easy class or one where you can drift through without working. There is a lot of material in each chapter and you will need to spend time reading and organizing information. Also, please consider if the online format is the best delivery system for you; some students might do much better if they attend class and experience interactive learning.
Course topics include: 1. essential nutrients needed from the diet; 2. major functions of nutrients and physiological changes with deficiency or excess; 3. digestion, absorption, and metabolism of nutrients; 4.weight management; 5. scientific method and nutrition; 6. life cycle issues; 7. food safety issues 8. nutrition for sport
Course Intended Audience: Undergraduate students of all majors and levels.
Course Web Site: Moodle 2
Student Performance Objectives:
What Will You Know at the End of the Class?
You will be able to:
· Identify the essential nutrients in the human diet (readings and quizzes)
· Describe the major functions of nutrients in the body and physiological and biochemical changes that occur with deficiency or excess (diet questions with critical thinking and quizzes)
· Identify common and concentrated food sources of nutrients (diet questions with critical thinking and quizzes)
· Describe the physical and chemical changes that occur during digestion of food and absorption and metabolism of nutrients (diet questions with critical thinking and quizzes)
· Design a sound program of eating (diet questions with critical thinking)
· Design a program of weight management; know the issues in weight management (diet questions and quizzes)
· Understand how diet impacts sports performance (quizzes)
· Understand the continuum from uncertainty to certainty in nutritional sciences; distinguish between solid scientific certainty and scientific controversies (reading and quizzes)
· Identify nutrient need changes throughout the life cycle (reading and quizzes)
· Describe principles of food safety (reading and quizzes)
· Identify diverse points of view regarding food and nutrition (reading and critical thinking questions on quiz and diet question assignments)
EMAIL is considered official communication at the U of M, so you MUST check your U of M email at least daily. Often I will clarify questions or make announcements or corrections that are important for you to know about, so please read emails and note the information. I will also send “Weekly Newsletter” to remind you of assignments and/or issues for the week. I will note announcements on the class website also, so please look for announcements each time that you enter the website. You are responsible for knowing what is in email communications and announcements on the class website.
Course Assignments and Workload
1. Syllabus and Academic Integrity Worksheet (10 points):
This assignment is to make sure that you understand the class syllabus and various important points covered in it, as well as understand academic integrity. It is due by Tuesday 22 January at 23:55. You need to submit this before any quizzes or the diet analysis will be accepted.
2. Quizzes (280 points total available):
One quiz is available each week on the chapter or chapters that we cover that week. Each quiz is available online on the class site for that week only, so you need to watch the class schedule carefully and read your email at least daily. Please be especially sure to get the dates on your calendar. The first quiz runs from Tuesday 22 January to Tuesday 29 January at 23:55.
Quiz answers become available when the quiz expires.
We understand that students have problems that occur during the semester; thus, we have a policy to count only 10 of 14 possible quizzes toward your final grade. We don’t need to know reasons for missing quizzes or deciding not to take one, but if your quiz is not taken by the expiration date and time, it goes into the book as 0. Reasons for 0 might include, but are not limited to: computer failure, internet outage on your end, illness, family problems, forgetting date or time, etc. If the class server goes out or it is our problem or general UM problem or outage, then I will inform you and give everyone a chance to access the quiz at a later time.
Points: 14 quizzes at 20 points each = 280 points; however, the lowest 4 will be dropped so you will have 10 quizzes that count toward your final grade, total 200 points possible. I will adjust your drops after all students have completed quiz 14.
*****We do monitor quizzes to control quality and academic integrity. If we see that any student takes any quiz from the same IP (internet connection) and/or computer (when you login, your computer characteristics are noted by the server) within 3 hours of another student, we will ask both students to come in and take a paper quiz in the instructor’s office. The original quizzes will be void. This means that if you are room mates or friends, your best bet is to take the quiz on different days in different places on different computers.******
3. Diet Questions: You will evaluate the adequacy of a dietary intake of one of our ‘test’ students. This includes
a. Assessing dietary intake entries and energy expenditure of a test student relative to current recommendations for his/her age and gender
b. Answering critical thinking questions about his/her diet and how he/she might adjust it
These assignments are not accepted late without a valid excuse.
[Points: 90; 10 for each of 9 diet question sets].
4. Final Exam (100 points)
All students will take the Final Exam for 100 points. This is a multiple choice, 50 question and 90 minute timed version online. This exam is cumulative and will cover all the chapters and powerpoint material from the semester. If you need accommodation for this exam, please contact Linda Brady by the last day of classes.
Assignment and Exam Policies:
No assignments will be accepted late.
Make-up quizzes or exams will only be offered to students who have documented medical emergencies and/or University-approved absences. To take a make-up, students must have a written verification for medical emergencies and/or University-approved absences or disabilities that are documented with Disability Services. Each verification of a medical emergency must include the physicians printed name, signature, telephone number, and date of medical care on letterhead. Verification of University-approved absences must be on the official University form.
Grading:
Syllabus/Academic Integrity: 10
Diet Analysis: 90 (9 diet questions for 10 points each)
Quizzes: 200 (200 of 280 possible points for quizzes)
Final Exam: 100
Total: 400
Incomplete "I" grade will be given very rarely; students will need to provide evidence of circumstances beyond their control (e.g. illness). Final grade will be determined by taking the total number of points earned as a percentage of 400. Your mastery of the material will determine the letter grade:
A 95 – 100%
A- 90 – 94.9
B+ 87 – 89.9
B 84 – 86.9
B- 80 – 83.9
C+ 77 – 79.9
C 74 – 76.9
C- 70 – 73.9
D+ 65 – 69.9
D 60 – 64.9
F < 60
Checking Grades: All students are required to check their gradebook each week to make sure that all assignments have been received and posted or to contest any grade or submission.
Refer all questions and comments regarding grading to: (612-624-9211).
Since you are required to check and verify your gradebook each week, no grade changes will be made more than 1 week after the assignment grade is posted; the posting dates are noted in the gradebook.
Grade Disputes:
If you wish to dispute a grade assigned, you must do so in writing within 2 days after the diet analysis or critical thinking questions have been returned and the grade posted—this is why I ask you to pay attention to the gradebook and your returned work. You must include a specific rationale for why your answer is correct. For quizzes, you must contest answers immediately after you take the quiz and see your score—you won’t know which ones are wrong, but you will know if you had issues with any question. You can further refine your argument when answers become available at the quiz expiration, but it is important to immediately communicate with me if you want to contest any answer.
Policy on Incompletes
A grade of Incomplete (I) will be given infrequently and only with a physician's or similar verification. A written and signed agreement between the instructor and the student must be negotiated before the last day of class. This agreement should state how and when the coursework will be completed. Coursework already completed during the semester may not be repeated. If an incomplete agreement is not made, or if the conditions of the agreement are not met on time, the final grade will be based on the actual points obtained when final grades are due.
Course Credits and Time Commitment— The University of Minnesota defines one conventional credit as equivalent to three hours of learning effort per week, averaged over an appropriate time interval, necessary for an average student taking that course to achieve an average grade in that course. Thus, 3 credits represents 9 hours of effort per week, so students will be expected to spend 9 hours a week on reading, quizzes, and diet analysis.
University of Minnesota - University of Minnesota Senate: Definitions of Grades and Academic Work Load Expectations