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, asynchronous 6 week course. This course resides on the course management, Canvas. It is accessible from MyPortal.  The course begins Monday June 30 and ends Friday August 8 (Although the course will open early, on Thursday June 26, 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 6 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” (which gets you dropped)  log onto the course on Canvas and complete the following 2 quick and easy tasks by midnight Wednesday night of the first 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 to do these tasks, after they register.

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.

Need Accommodations in This Course? 

Students with limitations due to a disability may receive support services from De Anza'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 Wednesday July 30. 

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. Because this is summer, there will be 2 VLs each week (except Week 6 which has just 1). 

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 an in-person student would get in 4 hours of class time/lecture, but in a visual presentation.  This and the textbook make up the course content.

Recorded Mini-Lectures

Because this is summer and time is short, rather than offer live Mini-Lectures on Zoom, you will have access to 11 recorded Mini-Lectures.  A Mini-Lecture is approximately 1 hour long. In the Mini-Lectures I explain  some of the more challenging topics from one VL. NO new material will be presented. 

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 in the points earned -- they have no direct impact on your course grade

Asynchronous Discussions

10 points will be earned for participating on a total of 2 asynchronous discussions. The discussions will happen during 2 separate weeks of the quarter (Weeks 3 and 4). Individual discussions will be open for one week only. 

Full participation on one discussion (following all prompts) earns 5 points. To earn the maximum of 10 points you must participate on 1 discussion during each of the 2 weeks that they are included. See the Quarter at a Glance for the dates that each discussion opens and closes.

Know that participating on discussions is required; it is not optional. 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 will reduce your course standing

General Information

You will take the exams 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.

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 an 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: Introduction through (including) Digestion (Week 1; VL 1 & 2)

Exam 2: Carbohydrates and Lipids (Week 2; VL 3 & 4)

Exam 3: Protein and Energy Metabolism (Week 3; VL 5 & 6)

Exam 4: Diet and Chronic diseases & Phytochemicals, Body Weight, Overview of the Micronutrients & Dietary Supplements (Week 4 and part of Week 5; VL 7, 8 & 9)

Exam 5: Water, Vitamins and Minerals (Part of Week 5 and Week 6; VL 10 &11))   

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 won't earn bonus points.

NOTE: To get 5 Bonus Points for Part 2, your Part 1 must be submitted by the time you submit Part 2.

10 Bonus Points can REALLY make a difference in your grade

Late Assignments will be Accepted (with a late penalty)

Assignment will be accepted late, up to 4 days past the due date but with a penalty:  10 points deducted from the score. This drops your grade 1 full grade.

• This heavy late penalty is an incentive for you to submit it on time. Working on the diet assignment after the due date will rob you of much needed time to  prepare for the Final Exam.  Submitting it late will likely drop your Final Exam score.

• No assignments will be accepted after 3 days past the due date. The point deduction is the same regardless of when it is submitted during those 3 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 would be spending on other academic during the last week of the quarter.