Course Syllabus

Summer 2026 | BIO-1030-VO05 - Introduction to Nutrition

Online Class

Online courses take place 100% online via Canvas, without required in-person or Zoom meetings.

Faculty

Allison Dean
View Faculty Credentials
View Faculty Statement
Hiring Coordinator for this course: Jen Guarino

General Education Requirements

Natural Science

Note

Many degree programs have specific general education recommendations. In order to avoid taking unnecessary classes, please consult with additional resources like your program evaluation, your academic program catalog year page, and your academic advisor.

Courses may only be used to meet one General Education Requirement.

Course Description

This course introduces students to the physiological basis of nutrition and evaluates dietary requirements. Emphasis is placed on metabolism, digestion, and nutrients used in the human body and the nutrition involved in health, disease, and aging.

Essential Objectives

1. Utilize the scientific method to distinguish between well-researched evidence on nutrition and some of the basic fallacies and myths in this field.
2. Discuss how Dietary Reference Intakes (DRIs) are established and how they compare for individuals based on nutrition, disease, and aging.
3. Outline dietary strategies now recommended to minimize the risks of disease and describe the nutritional and caloric needs of individuals throughout the lifecycle.
4. Describe the digestion and absorption of carbohydrates, proteins, and lipids with an emphasis on organs, hormones, and enzymes.
5. Evaluate and discuss the biological role of vitamins and minerals in maintaining homeostasis.
6. Analyze how carbohydrates, fats, and proteins are broken down to harvest energy and describe the conditions by which each of these molecules is metabolized.
7. Examine, record, and evaluate diets for nutritional and caloric adequacy and safety.
8. Demonstrate proficiency in understanding, interpreting, evaluating and applying quantitative data and information.
9. Explain how knowledge created in the natural sciences has contributed to the creation, maintenance and dismantling of social inequalities and discuss the impacts of diversity and inclusion on scientific research and practice.

Required Technology

More information on general computer and internet recommendations is available on the CCV computer recommendations Support page.

Please see CCV's Digital Equity Statement (pg. 45) to learn more about CCV's commitment to supporting all students access the technology they need to successfully finish their courses.

Required Textbooks and Resources

This course uses one or more textbooks/books/simulations.

Summer 2026 textbook details will be available on 2025-12-01. On that date a link will be available below that will take you to eCampus, CCV's bookstore. The information provided there will be specific to this class. Please see this page for more information regarding the purchase of textbooks/books.

BIO-1030-VO05 Link to Textbooks for this course in eCampus.

The last day to use a Financial Aid Advance to purchase textbooks/books is the 3rd Tuesday of the semester. See your financial aid counselor at your academic center if you have any questions.

Artificial Intelligence(AI) Policy Statement

CCV recognizes that artificial intelligence (AI) and generative AI tools are widely available and becoming embedded in many online writing and creative applications.

Prohibited: The use of generative AI is not allowed in this course, with the exception of spellcheck, grammar check and similar tools. This course rests in the value of students engaging in the learning process without relying on AI-generated content. Students will develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills independently, owning their learning journey from start to finish. If you use these tools, your actions would be considered academically dishonest and a violation of CCV's Academic Integrity Policy.

The material that we cover in class is meant for you to understand and apply to a variety of situations, and thus I expect that all material and analysis be your personal creations. Using AI to answer questions, formulate your answers, and create anything that you are submitting as your own work is strictly prohibited. I would much rather that your answers not be perfect than have you submit work that is not your own. I do allow the use of Grammarly or similar software as a way to refine your writing; however, the product must be yours. I do use AI checks to ensure the integrity of any student work that is in question.

Methods

This course is fully online and organized into weekly modules to help keep things clear and manageable. Each week focuses on a specific set of topics, activities, and assignments so students always know what to work on and when.

Inside each module, you’ll find a “Week X Summary” page. This page acts as your weekly checklist and includes:

• A brief overview of what we’ll be covering that week
• A list of everything that’s due
• Direct links to all assignments and activities

Each week also includes a Learning Resources page where the main course content is posted. This page includes:

• A short recorded lecture that walks through key ideas and concepts
• Publisher resources, such as chapter outlines or study tools
• Links to additional websites and outside resources to help reinforce the material

As the course progresses, students will apply what they’re learning through weekly assignments and activities. The course wraps up with a final diet analysis project, where students will choose a diet—either their own or someone else’s—and evaluate it for nutrient intake. This project gives students the chance to pull everything together and practice using nutrition concepts in a realworld setting.

Overall, the course is designed to be easy to navigate, flexible to fit different schedules, and focused on helping students connect course concepts to practical, everyday nutrition decisions.

Evaluation Criteria

CRITERIA FOR EVALUATION

You are responsible for reading and understanding the grading criteria for this course. If you have questions, please let me know right away so we can get them answered.

1.Exams (40%) - Throughout the semester, there will be a number of exams on the material learned in class. Please see the syllabus for the detail on when these will occur during the semester. The format of these assessments will include a combination of any or all of the following: multiple choice, matching, short answer, and short essay questions. These exams will be done online and I expect that you will not use materials when taking them. They are timed exams and you will need to download a lock down browser to take them.

2. Diet Analysis Project (20%) - The goal for the dietary analysis assignment is for you to take a close look at your lifestyle habits. This project consists of monitoring your caloric intake, daily expenditures, nutritional requirements and writing a summary reflection based on this information. You should expect to see more detailed information on this project as the semester progresses.

3. Homework (25%) - You will be required to submit weekly homework assignments during the semester. You will be graded on the content (I expect that these be in your own words) and correctness of the writing you do for this course, so please take that into account when submitting work. Within each weekly section, you will find the assignments and discussion questions for the week. You will be able to access your assignments more than once so you can work on it throughout the week, and you can resubmit the assignment once to improve your score on all questions that are automatically graded within Moodle. Any short answer questions will be manually graded at the end of the week and are not able to be redone to improve your score on them.

4. Attendance/Participation in Discussion Forum (15%) -Since this is an online course, class participation is based on your discussion activity in our forums. Even when we have exams, there will be an active and required discussion forum. I expect that you will be active in the discussion forums each week. You should post throughout the week and your postings should include meaningful responses to either the required questions or to other students. You may also start separate discussion topics that are related to the material we are talking about each week. Here’s how grades for this will be assessed:

• 0 posts per week = 0%
• 1-2 posts per week, minimal effort, posts all at once = 75%
• 3 posts per week, minimal effort and posts may be all at either the beginning or end of the week =85
• 3 posts per week, include more than just "I agree" or "Me too" and they are well balanced throughout the week = 95
• More than 3 posts per week that all include thought and application of the material and are distributed well throughout the week = 100%

5. Lateness- Work that is submitted late will not be accepted. However, I do reserve the right to make exceptions for the rare occasions that they are warranted. In any case, you must contact me before the due date in order for this to even be considered.

Students earning grades within the categories below will demonstrate the following learning outcomes

A (90-100%) Exceptional learning has taken place and has been demonstrated in the following ways:

1. Complete learning and understanding of all course objectives was demonstrated.
2. All work was completed on time.
3. Student work demonstrates maximal effort to be organized and free of errors
4. Student extensively uses critical thinking skills to complete assignments for the course.

B (80-89%) Significant learning has taken place and has been demonstrated in the following ways:

1. A proficient amount of learning and understanding of all course objectives was demonstrated.
2. All or most assignments were completed on time.
3. Student work demonstrates effort to be fairly well organized and this work has minimal errors.
4. Student demonstrates adequate use of critical thinking skills to complete assignments for this course.

C (70-79%) General learning has taken place and has been demonstrated in the following ways:

1. A fair amount of learning and understanding of all course objectives was demonstrated.
2. Most work is completed on time.
3. Student work needs some improvement organization and editing for errors.
4. Student is beginning to demonstrate critical thinking skills used to complete assignments for this course.

D, F (< 69%) Little learning has taken place and has been demonstrated in the following ways:

1. A minimal (if any) amount of learning and understanding of all course objectives was demonstrated.
2. Much of the work was not completed on time.
3. Student work lacks organization and demonstrates little editing.
4. Student does not show use of critical thinking skills to complete assignments for this course.

Please note: In order to receive accommodations for disabilities in this course, students must make an appointment to see the Americans with Disabilities Coordinator in their site and bring documentation with them.

Grading Criteria

CCV Letter Grades as outlined in the Evaluation System Policy are assigned according to the following chart:

	High	Low
A+	100	98
A	Less than 98	93
A-	Less than 93	90
B+	Less than 90	88
B	Less than 88	83
B-	Less than 83	80
C+	Less than 80	78
C	Less than 78	73
C-	Less than 73	70
D+	Less than 70	68
D	Less than 68	63
D-	Less than 63	60
F	Less than 60
P	100	60
NP	Less than 60	0

Weekly Schedule

Attendance Policy

Regular attendance and participation in classes are essential for success in and are completion requirements for courses at CCV. A student's failure to meet attendance requirements as specified in course descriptions will normally result in a non-satisfactory grade.

• In general, missing more than 20% of a course due to absences, lateness or early departures may jeopardize a student's ability to earn a satisfactory final grade.
• Attending an on-ground or synchronous course means a student appeared in the live classroom for at least a meaningful portion of a given class meeting. Attending an online course means a student posted a discussion forum response, completed a quiz or attempted some other academically required activity. Simply viewing a course item or module does not count as attendance.
• Meeting the minimum attendance requirement for a course does not mean a student has satisfied the academic requirements for participation, which require students to go above and beyond simply attending a portion of the class. Faculty members will individually determine what constitutes participation in each course they teach and explain in their course descriptions how participation factors into a student's final grade.

Participation Expectations

I will take weekly attendance for CCV, which is based on your submission or activity in any portion of the course. If you have submitted or completed any assignments during the week, you will be present for CCV attendance purposes. This is different from what I will use to assign you weekly discussion/participation grades (see evaluation criteria for how much this will count toward your final grade and for details on how this will be assessed).

Students may not miss more than two full weeks of work and still pass this course.

Missing & Late Work Policy

Work that is passed in after the due date will not be accepted, unless you have a valid excuse that I deem acceptable. In any case, you must contact me before the due date in order for this to be considered.I reserve the right to determine whether credit for late work will be assigned; however, I do want students to be successful and am more than happy to work with them when situations arise that deem the submission of late work appropriate. I realize that there are some situations when you are unable to message me prior to the date and will make exceptions as necessary while still maintaining consistent course policies.

Accessibility Services for Students with Disabilities:

1. Provide disability documentation to the Accessibility Coordinator at your academic center. https://ccv.edu/student-support/accessibility-services/
2. Request an appointment to meet with accessibility coordinator to discuss your request and create an accommodation plan.
3. Once created, students will share the accommodation plan with faculty. Please note, faculty cannot make disability accommodations outside of this process.

Academic Integrity

Apply Now for this semester.