Course Essentials

Course Description 

Biological function and chemical classification of nutrients. Effects of nutritional deficiencies and excesses. Recommended nutrient intakes and the role of diet in the development of chronic disease.

• This is a fully online 12 week course. This course resides on the course management, Canvas. It is accessible from MyPortal.  The course begins Monday April 8 and ends Wednesday June 26  (FYI:  the course will open early, on Thursday April 4, for those students who want to get a head start)

• This is not a self-paced course.  Due dates and deadlines occur on a set schedule throughout the 12 weeks.

Important  - Know This!

Faculty are required by law to clear their rosters of “no shows” during the first week. 

To keep your spot in this class and not be identified as a “no show” and therefore dropped, log onto the course on Canvas and complete the following 2 quick and easy tasks by midnight Thursday night of the first official week of the quarter: 

1. Fill out a short questionnaire (Welcome to Bio 45 Survey). Doing so will earn you 5 points.

2. Take a short quiz (What Do You Know about Nutrition?). This also earns you 5 points.

FYI: Students who add the class after registration closed will have 2 days after they register to do these tasks.

Not doing these 2 tasks by the deadline will get you dropped as a “no show”.  

Get in touch with me in the first few days of the quarter if there is a hardship that prevents your completing these 2 quick tasks before the deadline.

Need Accommodations in This Course? 

Students with limitations due to a disability may receive support services from DeAnza's  Disability Support Services. Those students with mobility, visual, hearing, speech, psychological and other other health impairments as well as learning and developmental disabilities are served.   Register with their offices in the first week of the quarter to receive accommodations in time for the first exam.

Be Aware

The last day to drop with a “W” is Friday night May 31 at 11:59 pm.

If you realize after this date that you are not getting the grade that you desire, please do not ask me to drop you. College procedures do not allow me to do so. Know your grade throughout the course so there are no surprises in the last week of the quarter.

What's a Student Learning Outcome?

Student Learning Outcomes are the goals you will ideally achieve by the end of this course.

Upon completing Biology 45 successfully you will be able to:

• Evaluate a meal plan or a diet for meeting the criteria of a healthy diet

• Demonstrate a coherent understanding of the relationship between diet and the major chronic diseases

Virtual Lectures

The backbone of Bio 45 consists of  Virtual Lectures  (VLs) -- something that I have created. There are 11 VLs in all,  one for each week of instruction. These are NOT videos of my giving a lecture. A VL is a something that you read (although there are a few short videos embedded within some VLs). Essentially, a VL replaces what a student would get in 4 hours of class time/lecture in an in-person section, but in a visual presentation.  This and the textbook make up the course content.

Recorded Mini-Lectures

Your instructor has recorded and posted a 1 hour "Mini-Lecture" for you to watch each week. They include explanations of some of the more challenging topics from that week's Virtual Lecture. No new material will be presented. They are offered to help you "get" some of the more complex material. Plan to watch all of them, from beginning to end, at least once (better, watch them twice. Repetition helps promote learning). Take notes while you watch.  

Be clear: They do no replace reading the Virtual Lectures.

Practice Quizzes and Worksheets

There will be many practice quizzes and worksheets offered throughout the quarter. They are designed to help you in your process of learning.  Take them. And be sure you check the answer keys once they are posted. This will help you do well on the corresponding exam. Your scores on Practice Quizzes are not counted . They earn no points and so they have no direct impact on your course grade. But they have a powerful indirect impact: Taking the practice quizzes and doing the worksheets will help you to do well on the corresponding exam :-)

Asynchronous Discussions

10 points are earned through participating in 2 Asynchronous Discussions; each earns up to 5 points. To earn the full 5 points, you must submit:

• 1 POST that is complete (all questions answered), on topic (not drifting off topic), clearly written and meet the word count. Worth 3 points

• 2 REPLIES  (a REPLY to 2 classmates). Worth 1 point for each

In order to earn 10 Points for Discussions, you must participate on both discussions and earn 5 points for each. These points are NOT Bonus Points. They are part of the total points for this course. 

If you don't participate on the discussions, your score will be 0/10 which slightly drops your course standing.

Each Discussion will be open for 10 Days -- from Friday morning until Sunday night. 

General Information

The online exams will be taken on Canvas while you are on Zoom with your VIDEO turned ON. 

This is a requirement.  Exams taken while not visible on Zoom will not be accepted--your score will be 0. 

In-ear headphones, head sets, masks and hats cannot be worn while taking exams. Nonelectric earplugs are fine.

You will have the option of taking Exams 1-4 in person on campus (not online) on the same exam days, at 5:30 pm.

Exams

• There will be 5 exams 

• For students who take all 5, the lowest score will be dropped from your cumulative score.  Thus, if you’re happy with your scores on Exams 1, 2, 3 & 4 you don’t have to take Exam 5.

• I'm very sorry, but I cannot accommodate a student who missed taking an exam on that exam day

There are no make-up exams. If you miss a midterm exam, that is the one that is dropped

• All exams consist of 40 True/False, Multiple Choice and Short Answer questions. Each question is worth 2 points for a total of 80 points.

• You will have a maximum of 50 minutes for each exam.

Optional Exam Review Sessions

Exam review sessions will take place on Zoom the night before the exam day, from 8-9 pm.  The sessions will be recorded and posted on Canvas.

WHAT Will Be on Each Exam?     

Exam 1: All of the topics from Weeks 1 & 2 (Introduction through (including) Digestion 

Exam 2: Topics from Weeks 3 & 4 (Carbohydrates and Lipids )

Exam 3: Topics from Weeks 5 & 6 (Protein and Energy Metabolism) 

Exam 4: Topics from Weeks 7, 8 & 9 (Diet and chronic diseases & Phytochemicals, Body Weight, Overview of the Micronutrients & Dietary Supplements)

Exam 5: Topics from Weeks 10 & 11 (Water, Vitamins and Minerals)   

Words to the Wise:  Complete Parts 1 & 2 Early (and get rewarded!)

It's not ideal to try to do all 3 parts right before it's due. That's a recipe for stress, possibly doing a suboptimal job and receiving a low score.

To encourage you to finish Parts 1 & 2 early, if you submit them by the deadlines listed on the course schedule and your submissions are complete, each submission will earn 5 Bonus Points.   Incomplete submissions will NOT earn bonus points.

10 Bonus Points can REALLY make a difference in your grade. Plan ahead for completing Parts 1 & 2 in time to receive those points. They are the ONLY Bonus Points offered in Bio 45.

Late Submission will be Accepted (with a late penalty)

The Diet Assignment can be submitted late, up to 4 days past the due date but with a penalty:  10 points will be deducted from your score. This drops your grade 1 full grade. This heavy late penalty is an incentive for you to submit it on time. 

• No assignments will be accepted after 4 days past the due date. 

• The point deduction is the same regardless of when it is submitted during those 4 days.

• ADVICE: If getting an A is your goal, plan to finish the Diet Assignment by the due date. It's not ideal to submit it late -- not only because of the point deduction, but because working on it then will take away from much-needed time and energy that you might need to be spending on other academic tasks during Final Exams week.