SW 267 Syllabus

Course Description

Are you what you eat? Today’s consumers want and need to be educated about taking charge of their own health. With the current fast-paced world that has spilled over into our eating habits, food choices have become unlimited. Choosing a healthful approach to diet requires basic information about our body’s nutritional needs. The greater our understanding of our basic bodily needs, the better able we are to make choices concerning our health. This course will offer an overview of the basic science of nutrition, with an emphasis on the relationship between disease and nutrition, and current research findings.

Note:

This course is offered by by DePaul University’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies. It can also be taken by CCSW students. However, all CCSW students must choose two competencies to develop and they must correlate with the criteria of the chosen assignment.

For CCSW students:

The course competences for "Nutrition for a Lifetime" are found in this course syllabus. As a CCSW student, simply choose two of the competence statements listed (out of a total of four) and follow the assignments as they correspond to those two chosen statements.
Most of the course material is relevant to all of the competences. However, the mini oral presentation and the final exam require you to declare and develop those competence statements specifically. Consider choosing two statements that are applicable and pertinent to your interests relative to the topic of our course. Please inform the course instructor of the two competence statements you choose.

Learning Outcomes

After completing this course, you will be able to:

Formulate a personal philosophy on the relationship of nutrition and health.
Develop a list of your health care experts and offer reasons for them.
Demonstrate ability to read and interpret food labels.Describe the nature of cells.
Explain the processes involved in the assimilation of nutrients from food.
Describe and explain how nutrients impact the cell and its functions.
Describe the ways the body uses energy from food nutrients.
Explain the relationship between physical activity and energy expenditure.
Understand the relationship between physical activity and health.
Evaluate the energy found in food using food labels.
Explain the relationships of fluids to homeostasis.
Evaluate the quality of various beverages.
Describe the types of carbohydrates.
Understand the relationship between carbohydrates and disease.
Evaluate dietary carbohydrate choices using food labels
Describe the various dietary lipids.
Explain the relationship between dietary lipids to health and disease.
Evaluate dietary lipid choices using food labels.
Explain how various technologies, inventions, and processes influence food and nutrients
Understand the relationship between manufacturing and manipulation of food and nutrients to health.
Revisit your personal philosophy with respect to nutrition and health.
Reflect on the factors that influence the relationship between nutrition and health.
Investigate and report on a specific nutrition related topic.
Evalulate the relationship between various nutrition topics and health.

Learning Strategies & Resources

This course will use a variety of learning resources, including a required text as well as web based resources.

To buy your books, go to http://depaul-loop.bncollege.com.

Brown, J. (2014). Nutrition now. (7th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.
ISBN-13: 9781133936534

Course Deliverables

Discussions
Written Assignments
Quizzes
Mini Presentation
Final Exam

Due dates are indicated in the course calendar. All course work is to be completed no later than the last date listed in the course calendar. The due date of the last assignment in the course calendar signifies the last day course work will be accepted. Any exceptions to this must be discussed and negotiated in advance of that deadline with the instructor.

Course Competencies

In this course, you will develop the following competencies:

Competence	Competence Statement and Criteria
S3B	Can assess health care practices based on an understanding of the biological and social factors that contribute to definitions of health. Formulates personal health philosophy as it relates to diet and nutrition. Develops a list of biological and social factors that can influence health and nutrition related principles. Explains how nutrition influences health at the biological level. Describe and explain nutrition related health care practices and assess their validity.
S2X	Can describe, categorize, and explain development or change within the human biological system. Describe how nutrients impact various human biological systems at the cellular level. Can describe the time frame over which development or evolution within the human body has occurred as a result of nutrient intake. Can describe variations between individuals with respect to changes related to nutrition.
S4	Can describe and explain connections among diverse aspects of nature. Describes the human biological systems. Can describe how nutrient intake affects the human biological systems. Can describe how other aspects of nature impact the relationship between human biological systems and nutrition.
S2D	Can describe, categorize, and analyze the interactions and exchanges between living organisms and their physical environments Develop a list of various environments that affect nutrition/food intake. Explain how the environment affects nutrition and health. Demonstrates the interrelationship between human nutrition and its environment

Assessment

Assignments are graded using specific rubrics. They are found in the Course Information area of the course.

Difficulties with submitting all written assignments by the due date should be brought to the instructor’s attention immediately. Late work will only be accepted with advance discussion and notification of the instructor. Late work will be assessed on a pass/fail basis only, with the highest possible grade a late score can achieve is a C.

Discussion Criteria (applicable to all Online Discussions)

Criteria	Excellent	Strong	Satisfactory	Weak
Substantive/Creative Integration of Content	10 points Initial post (new thread) draws particularly interesting or creative connections between the readings/films/activities and something else, be it an earlier reading/discussion, a personal experience, current events, etc. Excellent posts include relevant examples from the course materials and demonstrate critical thinking about the topic. Replies/Responses are more than one or two sentences and thoughtfully consider the initial post; related, meaningful, substantial, analytical, reflective	8.5 points Initial post (new thread) draws clear connections between the readings/films/activities and something else, be it an earlier reading/discussion, a personal experience, current events, etc. Strong posts include relevant examples from the course materials and demonstrate critical thinking about the topic. Replies/Responses are more than one or two sentences and for the most part thoughtfully consider the initial post; related, meaningful, substantial, analytical, reflective.	7 points Initial post (new thread) draws some connections between the readings/films/activities and something else, be it an earlier reading/discussion, a personal experience, current events, etc. Satisfactory posts include examples from the course materials and/or demonstrate critical thinking about the topic. Replies/Responses are more than one or two sentences and occasionally post off topic offering no further insight into the topic. 45 points Responds to the assignment/competence demonstrating solid conceptual understanding.	6 points Initial post (new thread) fails to draw connections between the readings/films/activities and something else. Weak posts do not include examples from the course materials and/or demonstrate critical thinking about the topic. Replies/Responses are less than one or two sentences and make no reference to the initial post; insubstantial.
Interactive/ Contributions to Learning Community	8 points Student demonstrates excellent engagement with the rest of the class: Student replies to more than two other student’s threads by identifying and expanding on an interesting point or raising awareness about alternative perspectives, motivating group discussion and new learning. Student monitors his/her own initial post and replies to all questions from your classmates and instructor in the various threads.	7 points Student demonstrates strong engagement with the rest of the class: Student replies to two other student’s threads by identifying and expanding on an interesting point or raising awareness about alternative perspectives, motivating group discussion and new learning. Student monitors his/her own initial post and replies to most questions from your classmates and instructor in the various threads.	6 points Student demonstrates satisfactory engagement with the rest of the class: Student replies to two other student’s threads with general response. Student does not demonstrate critical thinking in the replies. Student does not monitor his/her own initial post and replies to responses from classmates and instructor.	5 points Student demonstrates weak engagement with the rest of the class: Student replies to fewer than two student’s threads. Student does not monitor his/her own initial post and replies to responses from classmates and instructor.
Timely	4 points Student makes initial post by the middle of the week. Student posts responses and replies to comments or questions from the instructor and your classmates within a 48 hour period, allowing others time to read and respond; well- distributed through the discussion week by engaging with others on 3 separate days during the module.	3.5 points Student makes initial post by the middle of the week. Student posts responses and replies to most comments or questions from the instructor and your classmates within a 48 hour period, allowing others time to read and respond; somewhat distributed through the discussion week by engaging with others on 2 separate days during the module.	3 points Student makes initial post by the middle of the week. Student posts responses and replies several days after initial discussion post; poor distribution throughout discussion week.	2.5 points Student does not make initial post by the middle of the week.
Relevance / Well-Supported and Grammatically Correct	3 points Student uses multiple, strong examples from the course materials and/or from outside sources to support the statements made in the initial post and replies. The connection between the examples and the topic is clear; evidence based. All outside sources are credible sources. Any facts/figures, quotations, or images are cited (the website URL is fine). Posts are free of spelling, punctuation and grammatical errors.	2.5 points Student uses examples from the course materials and/or from outside sources to support the statements made in the initial post; evidence based. Any facts/figures, quotations, or images are cited (the website URL is fine). Posts are virtually free of spelling, punctuation and grammatical errors.	2 points Student uses one example from the course materials that may not be relevant. Posts have some spelling, punctuation and grammatical errors that do not obscure the writer's meaning.	1.5 points Student uses no examples and/or does not refer to course materials in the posting. Posts have many spelling, punctuation and grammatical errors that can obscure the writer's meaning.

Grading Summary

Grading Category	% of Final Grade
Discussions	40%
Written Assignments	15%
Quizzes	15%
Mini Presentation	15%
Final Exam	15%

Grading Scale

A = 95 to 100	A- = 91 to 94	B+ = 88 to 90
B = 85 to 87	B- = 81 to 84	C+ = 77 to 80
C = 73 to 76	C- = 69 to 72	D+ = 65 to 68
D = 61 to 64	F = 60 or below	INC

Grades below C- in SCPS courses do not satisfy competence and are not counted toward graduation.

Please note: Request for Pass/Fail grading option must be done no later than the due date as published in the DePaul University calendar.

Course Schedule

This course consists of 10 modules. The estimated time to complete each module is one week.

To see specific course due dates, click on the Calendar on the course home page.

The following table outlines the course:

Module	Readings	Assignments
Module 1: Introduction	Read Nutrition Now, Units 1-4; 6 Web Reading: The Impact of Chronic Diseases on Healthcare Chronic Diseases: The Leading Causes of Death and Disability in the United States http://www.cdc.gov/chronicdisease/overview/index.htm Prevention: The Answer To Curbing Chronically High Health Care Costs Optional: Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2010	Course Expectations Quiz - MUST BE COMPLETED TO UNLOCK COURSE CONTENT! 1.1 Introductions Discussion 1.2 Daily Food Choices Can Be Complex 1.3 Food Diary
Module 2: You are What You Eat / Digestion	Read Nutrition Now, Units 26; 5-7 Web Reading: National Geographic: Digestive System Jin, Kunlin (2010). Modern biological theories of aging. Nutrition and the Epigenome (University of Utah Health Sciences) Articles: Schardt, D. (2013). Epigenetics: it's what turns you on...and off. Nutrition Action Health Letter, 40(6), 9-11. Videos: The Journey of the Digestive System The Epigenome at a Glance Epigenetics and the influence of our genes	2.1: Food Labels Discussion 2.2 Topic Proposal for Mini Oral Presentation 2.3 Oral Presentation Topic Sign-up 2.4 Digestive System Quiz
Module 3; Energy: Where Does it Come From? Where Does it Go?	Read Nutrition Now, Units 8; 27 Web Reading: The Truth About Exercise and Your Weight Metabolism and Weight Loss: How You Burn Calories Building Up Bones, With a Little Bashing Articles: Think THIRTY! (2007). PT: Magazine of Physical Therapy, 12. Bassuk, S. S., Church, T. S., & Manson, J. E. (2013). Why exercise works magic. Scientific American, 309(2), 74-79. Church, T. (2012). It's Your Move: no more excuses (Cover story). Nutrition Action Health Letter, 39(10), 3-4. Best medicine: The science of exercise shows benefits beyond weight loss. (2013). Harvard Heart Letter, 23(11), 6. What's moderate activity?. (2003). Harvard Women's Health Watch, 10(10), 6-7. E-Reserves: Rubin, C., & Sklar, H. (2013). Secrets of a Superburner. Health (Time Inc.), 27(9), 41. Video: ATP & Respiration Podcast: Naked Scientists (2011). Boosting Your Bones	3.1 Energy In/Energy Out 3.2 Energy Quiz
Module 4; Fluids	Read Nutrition Now, Unit 25 Web Reading: UN Water Cooperation 2013 Articles: Popkin, B., D'Anci, K., & Rosenberg, I. (2010). Water, hydration, and health. Nutrition Reviews, 68(8), 439-458. Bottled Water's Rising Tide	4.1 Choose Your Fluids 4.2 Bottled vs Tap Reflection
Module 5; How Sweet it is! Carbohydrates	Read Nutrition Now, Units 12-13 Web Reading: The Covert Plague CDC webpage Overweight and Obesity for Professionals Adult Obesity in the United States Killer Fat Preventing Diabetes: Small Changes Have Big Payoff Take the Harvard School of Public Health Diabetes Health Assessment A Beginners Guide to Carb Counting Article: Stehno-Bittel, L. (2008). Intricacies of Fat. Physical Therapy, 88(11), 1265-1278. Interactive Presentation: Carbohydrate Digestion Videos: Diabetes Effect: Kidney Failure Physical Activity and Diabetes About Diabetes and Nutrition Diet Differences for Type I and II Diabetes The Science of Sweetness	5.1 Know Your Fiber 5.2 Carbohydrates Quiz
Module 6; Lipids	Read Nutrition Now, Units 18-19 Web Reading: Heart-healthy diet: 8 steps to prevent heart disease Exercise and Cardiovascular Health The Truth About Exercise and Your Weight Dietary Fat and Cholesterol Fats and Cholesterol: Out with the Bad, In with the Good High Cholesterol Risk Factors Articles: Libby, P. (2002). Atherosclerosis: The new view. Scientific American, 286(5), 46. Hambrecht, R., & Gielen, S. (2005). Essay: Hunter-gatherer to sedentary lifestyle. Lancet, 366, S60-S61. Jefferson, A. (2008). Nutritional management of coronary heart disease. Journal Of Community Nursing, 22(5), 28. Fatness vs. Fitness-a Weighty Debate. (2004). Tufts University Health & Nutrition Letter, 22(9), 6. Video: Atherosclerosis: An animation (The New York Times)	6.1 Convenience and Eating Out 6.2 Lipids Quiz
Module 7; Micronutrients	Read Nutrition Now, Units 15, 16, 20, 21, 23, 24 Web Reading: Protein Digestion and Absorption Process Articles: McCormick, D. (2010). Vitamin/mineral supplements: of questionable benefit for the general population. Nutrition Reviews, 68(4), 207-213. Schardt, D., & Scarmo, S. (2013). Multi Dilemma. Nutrition Action Health Letter, 40(9), 1-5. Video: Vitamins & Minerals an Overview	7.1 Debate: How Should You Get Your Vitamins & Minerals? 7.2 The Importance of Food Labels
Module 8; Processed Foods	Read Nutrition Now, Units 32-33 Web Reading: Avoiding Processed Foods? Surprise! This is Processed Too! Genetically Modified Foods World Health Organization: General information about biotechnology (GM foods) Articles: Kim, E. (2013). The Amazing Multimillion-year History of Processed Food. Scientific American, 309(3), 50-55. Ludwig, D. S. (2011). Technology, Diet and the Burden of Chronic Disease. JAMA: Journal Of The American Medical Association, 305(13), 1352-1353.	8.1 Debate: Genetically Modified Food 8.2 Processing Food Reflection
Week 9, Module 9; Current Issues		9.1 Mini Oral Presentations 9.2 View the Presentations & Discussion
Week 10, Module 10; Conclusions / Wrap-up		10.1 Personal Philosophy Discussion 10.2 Final Exam

Learning Community

Our learning community is made up of each one of you! There are weekly opportunities for sharing of your ideas, thoughts, reflections and learning in the discussions within each module. Consider the ways in which you can help maximize the learning experience of the group by your active participation. Read with an open mind. But be critical! Do you believe everything you read? How does what you have read compare to your personal experience? How is what you have learned relevant? Have you developed any new perspectives from what you have learned from the discussion? Take each discussion as an opportunity to demonstrate what you know and have learned. Articulate your thoughts clearly, offer summaries, find opportunities to lead the discussion. Let’s make our learning environment a welcome and respectful place! Your presence is important!

Time Management and Attendance

SCPS's online courses are not self-paced and require a regular time commitment EACH week throughout the quarter.

You are required to log in to your course at least four times a week so that you can participate in the ongoing course discussions.

Online courses are no less time consuming than "face to face" courses. You will have to dedicate some time every day or at least every second day to your studies. A typical four credit hour "face to face" course at SNL involves three hours of classroom meeting per week, plus at least three to six hours of study and homework per week.

This course will require at least the same time commitment, but your learning activities will be spread out through the week. If you have any problems with your technology, or if you need to improve your reading or writing skills, it may take even longer.

The instructor should be notified if your life events do not allow you to participate in the course and the online discussions for more than one week. This is particularly important when there are group discussions or you are working as part of a team.

If you find yourself getting behind, please contact the instructor immediately.

Course Netiquette

Online discussions are an important part of your course experience. To ensure a positive learning environment, please follow the following minimum expectations. Use your common sense, as not all situations can be covered:

Be polite
Respect other participants’ views or opinions
Think before you write, and ask yourself if you would say the same thing in person
Use positive phrases (i.e., "Good idea!" or "Thanks for the suggestions," etc.)
Be sensitive to cultural differences
Avoid hostile, curt or sarcastic comments
No objectionable, sexist, or racist language will be tolerated
Create a positive online community by offering assistance and support to other participants.
Use correct grammar and syntax

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is a major form of academic dishonesty involving the presentation of the work of another as one's own. Plagiarism includes but is not limited to the following:

The direct copying of any source, such as written and verbal material, computer files, audio disks, video programs or musical scores, whether published or unpublished, in whole or part, without proper acknowledgement that it is someone else's.
Copying of any source in whole or part with only minor changes in wording or syntax, even with acknowledgement.
Submitting as one's own work a report, examination paper, computer file, lab report or other assignment that has been prepared by someone else. This includes research papers purchased from any other person or agency.
The paraphrasing of another's work or ideas without proper acknowledgemen.
Resubmitting one's own previous work from a different course or college, without the permission of the current instructor.

Plagiarism, like other forms of academic dishonesty, is always a serious matter. If an instructor finds that a student has plagiarized, the appropriate penalty is at the instructor's discretion.

Course Policies

To complete the course, you must complete each of the assignments as described in the course and submit them to your instructor by the assigned deadline. In addition, you must participate in the course discussion forum by responding to all instructor requests and by interacting with fellow classmates as necessary.

Discussions are in “real” time. Postings should be completed within the designated weekly time frame. Postings after the end of the module discussion period are not included in the grade assessment.

College and University Policies

This course includes and adheres to the college and university policies described in the links below:

Academic Integrity Policy (UGRAD)

Academic Integrity Policy (GRAD)

Incomplete Policy

Course Withdrawal Timelines and Grade/Fee Consequences

Accommodations Based on the Impact of a Disability

Protection of Human Research Participants

APA citation format (GRAD)

Additional Course Resources

University Center for Writing-based Learning

SNL Writing Guide

Dean of Students Office

Changes to Syllabus

This syllabus is subject to change as necessary. If a change occurs, it will be clearly communicated to students.

Credits

This course was designed and produced by Patricia Stifter and staff at SCPS, School of Continuing and Professional Studies of DePaul University.