HEALTH SCIENCE 121
FUNDAMENTALS OF HEALTHFUL LIVING
Fall 2008

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.

11. Create and utilize a personal plan for patient care, health insurance, health maintenance organizations, and basic consumer health care.

12. Differentiate the stages of the grieving process and develop skills for communicating with grieving individuals.

13. Identify the specific stages of aging, dying and death.

14. Explain concepts and theories related to aging, dying and death and the grieving process.

15. Create a plan for personal health and the environment with specific care toward saving the environment for the future.

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 :-O

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. A maximum of 200 points are possible for the discussion area of this course.

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.

• 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.
You will drop your 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 Thursdays and Wednesdays.
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 their original due date.***

GRADING

Assignment	Point Value
Unit Test Scores	*250 points
Comprehensive Final Exam	100 points
Personal Vision and Mission Statement OR Self Assessment	50 points
Introduction to Blackboard Quiz and Chapter Quizzes (complete your first quiz attempt for each chapter prior to reading the E-lecture or textbook materials-- the quizzes can be retaken as many times as you like)	170 points
Investigative Assignment OR Diet Diary and Plan	100 points
Discussion Board Activities (within the Class Schedule area - see below - the required discussion boards are listed in bold lettering)	200 points
Total Points Possible	870 points

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

CLASS SCHEDULE

With the exceptions of Week 1 and Week 8, the work week for this course is Thursdays through Wednesdays. Week 1 is lengthened, Monday (8/18) to the following Wednesday (8/27) with the purpose of allowing people new to online courses time to get acclimated to the online environment. This slight extension also affords late enrollees a chance to get caught up. Week 8 is shortened because only the discussion board evaluations and the final exam are due that week.

Dates	Topics
WEEK 1 8/18-8/27 Please note this extends Week 1 to the following Wednesday	READINGS Read E-lecture: Health Overview Read chapter 1
	DISCUSSION BOARD PARTICIPATION Week One Discussions: Initial Check-In; Leading Causes of Death; Limiting Behaviors Discussion Topics (You must post original messages in the Initial Check-In, Causes of Death and Limiting Behaviors discussion areas for this week. Also, you must post a minimum of two replies to two of the discussions during this week-- you choose which areas to respond). Refer to the Grading Rubric in the Assignments section for information on how you will be evaluated regarding participation in the discussion areas.
	QUIZZES, TESTS AND/OR WRITTEN ASSIGNMENTS Introduction to Blackboard Quiz (10 pts.) Health Overview Quiz (10 pts.)
	Week One has been extended intentionally to allow you an opportunity to gain familiarity with the online learning environment and the structure of this course. Please use this time wisely to explore the different areas of the course and print materials you may need to reference regularly.
WEEK 2 8/28-9/3	READINGS Read E-lectures: Personality Development and Stress Management Read chapters 2-3
	DISCUSSION BOARD PARTICIPATION Week Two Discussions:Keirsey Temperament Sorter and Causes of Stress Discussion Topics (Please post original messages in the Keirsey Temperament and Causes of Stress discussion areas for this week, and a minimum of two replies to both of this week's discussions. Refer to the grading rubric in the Assignments section for information on how you will be evaluated regarding participation in the discussion areas.)
	QUIZZES, TESTS AND/OR WRITTEN ASSIGNMENTS Psychosocial Health Quiz (10 pts.) Stress Quiz (10 pts.) Unit Test #1: Chapters 1-3 (50 pts.) - must be completed by 9/3 Self Assessment behavior modification goal must be submitted for instructor review (See Self Assessment assignment description for details.) If you elect to complete the Personal Vision and Mission Statement assignment, you do not need to submit a behavior modification goal for the self assessment assignment.
WEEK 3 9/4-9/10	READINGS Read E-lecture: Fitness Read chapter 11 Read E-lectures: Nutrition and Weight Management Read chapters 9 and 10
	DISCUSSION BOARD PARTICIPATION Week Three Discussions: Nutrition Information in Restaurants; Should morbidly obese airline passnegers be required to purchase two tickets? Discussion Topics (Please post original messages in two of the discussion areas for this week, and a minimum of two replies to two of the discussions during this week. Refer to the grading rubric in the Assignments section for information on how you will be evaluated regarding participation in the discussion areas.)
	QUIZZES, TESTS AND/OR WRITTEN ASSIGNMENTS Investigative Assignment proposal due - see appropriate discussion area for signing up (10 pts.) If you elect to complete the Diet Diary and Plan assignment, you do not need to submit an Investigative Assignment proposal. Fitness Quiz (10 pts.) Nutrition Quiz (10 pts.) Weight Management Quiz (10 pts.) Unit Test #2: Chapters 9-11 (50 pts.) - must be completed by 9/10
WEEK 4 9/11-9/17	READINGS Read E-lectures: Drugs, Alcohol and Tobacco Read chapters 7 and 8
	DISCUSSION BOARD PARTICIPATION Week Four Discussions: How to Spend a Buck; Legalization of Marijuana/Drugs Discussion Topics (Please post original messages in two of the discussion areas for this week, and a minimum of two replies to each of the discussions during this week. Refer to the grading rubric in the Assignments section for information on how you will be evaluated regarding participation in the discussion areas.)
	QUIZZES, TESTS AND/OR WRITTEN ASSIGNMENTS Drugs Quiz (10 points) Alcohol and Tobacco Quiz (10 points) Personal Vision and Mission Statement or Self-Assessment Assignment due (50 pts.) Unit Test #3: Chapters 7-8 (50 pts.) - must be completed by 9/17
WEEK 5 9/18-9/24	READINGS Read E-Lectures: Cardiovascular Disease, Cancer and Infectious Diseases Read chapters 12-14
	DISCUSSION BOARD PARTICIPATION Week Five Discussions: Heart Disease Risk Factors; Cancer Types; Infectious Diseases Forum Discussion Topics (Please post an original message in one of the discussion areas for this week. Refer to the grading rubric in the Assignments section for information on how you will be evaluated regarding participation in the discussion areas.)
	QUIZZES, TESTS AND/OR WRITTEN ASSIGNMENTS Cardiovascular Disease Quiz (10 points) Cancer Quiz (10 points) Infectious/Communicable Diseases Quiz (10 points) Unit Test #4: Chapters 12-14 (50 pts.) - must be completed by 9/24
WEEK 6 9/25-10/1	READINGS Read E-Lectures: Conception and Birth and Sexuality Read chapters 5-6
	DISCUSSION BOARD PARTICIPATION Week Six Discussions: Abstinence or Comprehensive Sex Education; Anything You Want To Know About Sex; Ideal Mate Discussion Topics (Please post original messages in two of the discussion areas for this week, and a minimum of two replies to each of the discussions during this week. Refer to the grading rubric in the Assignments section for information on how you will be evaluated regarding participation in the discussion areas.)
	QUIZZES, TESTS AND/OR WRITTEN ASSIGNMENTS How Much Do You Know Quiz: Participate in the online quiz between the males and females in the class. Extra credit will be awarded to the victorious gender (10 pts.)-- The quiz states that it is worth 20 points; however, it is only worth ten points. Extra credit is also earned for each correct response after ten correct answers.) Three-Day Diet Diary and Diet Plan with Written Summation OR Investigative Assignment due (100 pts.) Unit Test #5: Chapters 5-6 (50 pts.) - must be completed by 10/1
WEEK 7 10/2-10/8	READINGS Read E-Lectures: Violence and Abuse, Environmental Health, and Death and Dying Read chapters 4, 15 and 16
	DISCUSSION BOARD PARTICIPATION Week Seven Discussions: Euthanasia-- should it be legal?; Is it rape? Discussion Topics (Please post original messages in one of the discussion areas for this week, and a minimum of two replies to each of the discussions during this week. Refer to the grading rubric in the Assignments section for information on how you will be evaluated regarding participation in the discussion areas.)
	QUIZZES, TESTS AND/OR WRITTEN ASSIGNMENTS Violence and Abuse Quiz (10 points) Aging, Dying and Death Quiz (10 points) Unit Test #6: chapters 4, 15 and 16 (50 points) - must be completed by 10/8
WEEK 8 10/6-10/10 Please note that week 8 has three days in common with week 7	TESTS AND/OR WRITTEN ASSIGNMENTS Complete Online Course Evaluation (10 extra credit points) Comprehensive Final Exam (100 pts.) - must be completed by 10/10 Submit Peer/Self Evaluations for Discussion Area Participation (100 pts.)
	Week Eight has been truncated intentionally as the only requirements during week eight are completion of the final exam, the self and peer discussion board evaluations and the course evaluation. Please plan your time accordingly.

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.

Accessing your class regularly is a must as assignments and due dates may fluctuate based upon the availability of Blackboard and online resources .