HEALTH SCIENCE 121
FUNDAMENTALS OF HEALTHFUL LIVING
Fall 2008

- Hybrid Online Course -

Introduction | Objectives | Rules and Regulations/Resources |
Communication Tools | Submitting Assignments | Technical Difficulties
Exams and Make-ups | Grading | Class Schedule

INTRODUCTION

This course is designed to provide each student with an opportunity to learn about the maintenance and improvement of health in an atmosphere conducive to the development of attitudes, values and behaviors that will help him/her identify and resolve problems they see as limiting the quality of their health and lifestyle. Areas covered will include: personality development, emotional development, emotional problems, stress management, fitness, nutrition, drugs, alcohol, and their use and abuse, communicable diseases, sexually transmitted diseases, cancer, cardiovascular disease, conception to birth, birth control and parenting, violence, aging and environmental health.
This course is designed to meet the Health Education requirement for the credentialing of teachers in California.

OBJECTIVES

AFTER COMPLETION OF THE COURSE, YOU SHOULD HAVE A GOOD UNDERSTANDING OF THE FOLLOWING:

1. Clarify personal values and the role they play in decision making.

2. Distinguish between types of stress, and develop stress reduction techniques and strategies for dealing with stress.

3. Apply principles of physical fitness as established by reputable organizations such as the American College of Sports Medicine and the American Heart Association.

4. Distinguish between healthy versus non-healthy nutrition intake.

5. Identify the components of a well-balanced diet, and formulate strategies for implementation of those components into a sound nutrition program within their lifestyle.

6. Evaluate attitudes toward the use and abuse of controlled substances, alcohol, caffeine and tobacco, and synthesize this information into an integrated attitude of the effects on their wellness.

7. Identify anatomical structures and the physiological roles of the male and female reproductive systems.

8. Analyze the effectiveness of various contraceptive and birth control methods, and understand the process of conception to birth.

9. Identify communicable, non-communicable, and sexually transmitted diseases by their various symptomology and identify sufficient prevention strategies.

10. Examine the role of individual lifestyle choices and their impact on the development of cardiovascular diseases and cancer.

CLASS/INSTITUTIONAL RULES AND REGULATIONS

1. Students must be capable of sending and receiving e-mails with attachments Students must be capable of using Internet resources. It is the student's responsibility to ensure s/he is properly registered for the class. Failure to properly enroll will result in no grade at the end of the semester. Cheating on exams or plagiarism will result in contact with the Office of Instruction and a zero grade for that assignment.

2. Completion of the final exam is mandatory.

INSTITUTIONAL RESOURCES

Academic Support is available for all students through the services provided at the Learning Resource Centers located at the San Jacinto and Menifee Valley campuses. Inquire at each center regarding hours of operations and specific subjects for which tutors are available.

DSP&S Services are available at Mt. San Jacinto College. MSJC abides by the American with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 that prohibits federal and state agencies or programs from discriminating against qualified individuals with disabilities. Students in this course who have a documented disability, that limits a major life activity which may have some impact on your work in this class and for which you may require accommodations should meet with a counselor in Disabled Students Programs and Services (DSP&S) as soon as possible.

When responding to a question or statement posed by me or a fellow classmate, do not merely make a statement of agreement or tell a person they did a "good job". Explain your agreement or disagreement with a statement. In your responses tell me, or your classmates exactly what you liked/disliked about something we have posted. Be specific using examples from research articles or reputable web sites to defend your position.

When posting to the discussion group refrain from attacking an individual personally. Point your comments in the direction of the statements made by the person and not at the person.

Please do not respond to the same classmate's postings in the different discussion boards over and over again. Allow yourself the opportunity to become familiar with as many different members of the class as possible. To achieve this goal pick different students each time to write your responses.

Feel free to use emoticons, e.g. :-) :-O in your postings as these help students interpret the tone of your written communication.

Please do not use all capital letters as this intimates that you are SCREAMING or YELLING! Unless of course that is your intention ;-)

Points for posting and responding to the discussion boards will be subjectively awarded by me and your classmates. I will award half of the points and a selected group of your classmates will award one-fourth of the points while you will award the final one-fourth of the points. The criteria for a quality posting is that it must be: thorough, substantive, demonstrate a degree of learning or understanding, and offer evidence to support statements when necessary. Additionally, your classmates must feel your postings assisted them with their own personal growth and understanding of the subject matter.

Please adhere to the Mt. San Jacinto College's Acceptable Use Policy (you must have a signed AUP on file to take an online course). Any improper use of the discussion boards, chat rooms, etc. will result in a loss of privilege in using these communications tools and possibly other disciplinary action.

SUBMITTING ASSIGNMENTS

Some of your assignments will be submitted to me via e-mail. When submitting assignments via e-mail please adhere to the following directions:

• Type your name on the first page of the document you are submitting

• Include your last name in the title of the document, e.g. Doe_Self_Assessment.doc

• Include your section number, name and the title of the assignment in the subject line of your e-mail message, e.g. 4622 John Doe Self Assessment

• Don't forget to attach the document to the e-mail :-)

• Submit assignments to dhelms@msjc.edu

• Please no zipped files. Also, please keep the diet diary/plan as one document. Do not separate the summation, the diary, and the plan as separate documents. Don't worry text files are small :-)

• *Only submit assignments delivered to me as an attachment in .doc, or .rtf format

• Please keep all assignments I return to you until the end of the class. Also, please keep a copy of all e-mails I send to you that confirm I received an assignment from you as this will serve as proof that you submitted an assignment to me and that I received it.

*Any assignments submitted in file formats other than .doc, or .rtf, or without the subject line filled out appropriately will not be graded.

TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES

From time to time the technology used to deliver the online courses or the mail server which handle the e-mail will fail :-(, or in some instances the technology used by the student to take an online course will fail, e.g. computer crash, ISP won't stay connected, etc. Knowing this is a possibility and devising a contigency plan is essential to avoid devastating results. Therefore, here is the contigency plan for some possible technology problems.

• If you are unable to access the MSJC Blackboard site, please contact the Eagle Help Desk, (951) 487-3777, or e-mail eagledesk@msjc.edu immediately, and notify the Help Desk Staff of when you first experienced the problem. We currently do not have technical support on the weekends, holidays, or evenings; as a result, please be patient as the situation will be rectified as soon as possible.

• If you are attempting to send me an e-mail and the e-mail is returned to you as undeliverable, please re-check the e-mail address and resubmit it, if there was an error in the e-mail address. If it is returned as undeliverable once again, save the undeliverable message and wait until Monday after 9am (assuming the issue occurred over the weekend) to resubmit the e-mail. Please include as an attachment the undeliverable e-mail message along with the content of your e-mail. For example, if you are submitting your diet diary/plan and the e-mail with the attachment is returned as undeliverable, save the message and when you resubmit the diet diary/plan attach the undeliverable message in addition to the diet diary/plan.

• If you are taking an exam and the time expires before you submit your answers, or if your ISP (Internet Service Provider) disconnects you during the test, please send me an e-mail notifying me of this occurrence. I will reset two tests for you during the semester. However, if this becomes a recurring problem, you will need to use a computer at MSJC, or a public/private facility with Internet access to log onto Blackboard and take future exams. You must complete the final exam on your first attempt.

• If your computer "crashes", and you will not have access to the course for a prolonged period of time, it may be best for you to drop the course and retake it when you have access to a reliable computer; however, if you can gain access to the Internet at work, school, or wherever, you may continue on with the class.

Finally, please do not panic. It is my goal to make this a learning experience and not a technology struggle :-) However, please do not falsify information and blame the technology when you fail to complete an assignment in a timely manner, or if you are not adequately prepared to take a test and you purposefully quit the exam because you will not be successful because of a lack of preparation. My assumption is that you are honest and you are attempting to put forth your best effort. Please do not give me a reason to think otherwise.

The online learning environment is similar, yet much different than the traditional classroom experience for students. You will be required to send e-mail, send e-mail with attachments, navigate the world wide web, download browser plug-ins to view multimedia enhanced web pages, and be able to participate in threaded discussions and chats.
If you do not possess most or all of these skills you should drop this course immediately and complete a course on Internet basics (MSJC offers a course CSIS 101 - Introduction to the Internet) before enrolling in another online course.

EXAMINATIONS/MAKE UP POLICY

A test will be taken at the conclusion of each group of chapters that make up a unit. Tests will consist of an objective portion and at times a subjective portion that will include short answer and essay questions.
EVERY STUDENT IS REQUIRED TO DROP THEIR LOWEST TEST SCORE.
In the event you miss a testing period this will automatically serve as the lowest test grade and it will be dropped. Only in cases of extreme emergencies will a make-up test be offered. Unit tests will be available between Tuesdays through Mondays.
All papers are due on the date specified for that particular assignment. Any papers submitted within one week of the original due date will be assigned a penalty of -10% of the total points possible for that assignment.

***No papers or assignments will be accepted one week after the original due date.***

GRADING

Grading Rubrics (Detailed explanation of how the personal vision and mission statement, self assessment, diet diary and plan, investigative assignment and the discussion board area will be evaluated.)

*Your lowest Unit Test score will be dropped.

GRADES WILL BE MADE UP FROM A CUMULATIVE POINT TOTAL. OTHER OUTSIDE ASSIGNMENTS MAY BE ASSIGNED EXTRA CREDIT, PER INSTRUCTOR'S DISCRETION, AND MAY BE GIVEN FROM TIME TO TIME THROUGHOUT THE TERM. THESE POINTS ARE NON-NEGOTIABLE. PLEASE DO NOT ATTEMPT TO NEGOTIATE POINTS, GRADES AFTER THE FIRST WEEK OF CLASS.

The total points for the course will be adjusted in the event that any tests, worksheets, etc. are not assigned during the course of the semester.

(90-100%) = A

(80-89%) = B

(70-79%) = C

(60-69%) = D

(0-59%) = F

The assignments listed above are intended to be a guideline and additional material may be assigned periodically. This is only an outline for the course.

Some of the Internet sites are located on remote servers and may at times be inaccessible or unavailable. Please notify the instructor when this occurs.

Regular class attendance is a must as assignment and testing dates may fluctuate due to a variety of reasons, and it is your responsibility to keep up with any changes.