HSCI 202 - Health Education

Instructor: Brian Locher - Email: brian_locher@cuesta.edu

Student Help Hours (Office Hours): By appointment

Welcome Message

Welcome to HSCI 202. Over the next 12 weeks I will be your guide to exploring the world of health. There is a substantial amount of content to complete during the time this course meets. You will be successful in HSCI 202 if you are organized and diligent in your study habits and assignment completion. None-the-less you will complete the course having learned a lot about the health of our planet, our society, as well as your own personal health. The following syllabus explains more about me, discusses my expectations for you in this course, in addition to course policies. Please read ahead for the full breadth of information on HSCI 202.

Required Materials

This course is part of Cuesta’s First Day delivery program. To access the course students simply need to go into Canvas, and click on the first Chapter Quiz from their assignments page. Then you will be prompted to register for Connect. You will not be prompted to purchase anything, just enter your email address and register for Connect (which gives then gives you access to all assignments +ebook).

ISBN - INSEL LSC HSCI 202: CNCT OLA HLTH 18, 2024.  9781264501199.  $60 per student

Course Meetings

HSCI 202 is an asynchronous course that does not require weekly meetings. All course materials are conveyed through Module descriptions, PowerPoints, flash lectures, research articles and web links. Quizzes are based on the PP presentations and course readings. Assignments are supplied with a holistic view of health in mind. Please feel free to schedule an appointment with me via email for any help;  brian_locher@cuesta.edu.

Diversity Statement

Diversity, equity and inclusion are hallmarks of a safe, supportive, and educational classroom environment. Part of my objective for this course is to create a safe space that enables all students to engage openly, respectfully, and equally with their classmates, and their instructor, for their education. Please help me create this space with your own positive actions towards others as well.

About Me

I’ve been teaching and/or coaching at Cuesta College for 18 years. After being hired to coach the cross-country team in 2007, I then took over responsibilities coaching the track team, directing the City to the Sea Half Marathon, and then teaching: KINE 201, HSCI 202, Principles of Coaching, etc. I’ve been married for 8 years. Emily and I enjoy international travel and have visited Colombia, Cambodia, Croatia, Morocco, and more. Our most recent adventure has been raising our beautiful son, Jude (4 years). Our family moved to Seattle in summer 2022 and I now teach online for Cuesta. My own hobbies include backpacking, reading, and lots of exercise: basketball, weightlifting, running, hiking.

Instructional Methods

My goal is to facilitate your education in HSCI 202 in a way that is efficient and educational for a short course. To aid this objective, lectures follow a student-centered approach to teaching with elements of the following: facilitative teaching, inquiry guided instruction, and experiential learning. Assignments are provided in a couple fashions including video, quizzes, peer reviewed research reviews, labs/recorded data, discussion posts, and will draw from lectures, readings, and your own research. All course modules will be opened at the date the course begins. You may work ahead but can’t fall behind. In assignments and grading I will be firm but fair. I have high expectations for your work, so should you.

Regular and Effective Contact & Expectations

Regular and effective instructor contact will be met through weekly flash lectures, instructor-initiated discussion forums, weekly announcements to students, timely and effective feedback on student assignments, and virtual student help opportunities (office hours). To be most successful, expect to complete 12+ hours of work on this course weekly, including viewing PowerPoints, recorded lectures, resource posts, reading the text, reviewing notes, and completing quizzes and reviews. Be sure to visit the course calendar/modules frequently to review required weekly assignments. I have set up the course so that you, the students, are set up for success. Assignment/quiz, etc., submissions are due on a weekly basis, however, you can still complete all assignments and quizzes until the end of the course for full points. As your instructor I am here to guide your education. Use me as a resource and ask me questions.

Instructor Correspondence

On weekdays I will normally respond to emails in the evenings. Email is the most effective way for you to get in touch with me. On weekends I will do my best to get back to you as soon as possible. Generally, waiting until a couple hours or less before an assignment is due to ask for help will not provide you with a response. I’m almost certainly sleeping!

Technology Requirements

To complete the HSCI 202 course, you will need access to the following technology: PC computers preferred with Microsoft Office 365 capabilities, Mac’s acceptable. If you are using a Mac please know the functions of the computer. All files that will be submitted to me need to be exported to word or .pdf before being uploaded to Canvas. Your ability to use a personal video device or YouTube to create and upload video files to Canvas is necessary. Canvas’ video integration function is suspect at times. Please allow yourself at least 30 minutes to upload video files through Canvas. For Google-docs users, when you “submit assignment” in Canvas click on the Google Drive tab first (not file upload) and follow the steps listed there first. Please no .pages submissions. Canvas self-pace tutorial linked here

Canvas Support

Please direct all technical support inquiries to support@my.cuesta.edu. If you are having difficulty with Canvas, you should contact the Canvas Support Hotline at (877) 921-7680 or click on the help button on the Canvas Navigation to report a problem.

Quick Link Reference for Students accessing Canvas 

Link for Cuesta College Distance Education 

Canvas Tutorials for Students 

Conditional A.I. Policy
The use of generative AI is conditionally authorized for use to complete some
assignments as noted in this course. Only certain assignments in this course will allow the use of generative AI (GenAI) tools, as designated by the instructor. Any such use must be
appropriately acknowledged and cited. For all other assignments, GenAI use is not permitted. Plagiarism is unethically paraphrasing and/or presenting someone else’s words, writing, images, solutions, or ideas as if they are one's own without citing and/or quoting the original source material, and this includes work produced with the use of GenAI tools. Please note that large language model GenAI tools frequently provide users with incorrect information, tend to make up or “hallucinate” incorrect facts and fake citations, generate contradictory statements, incorporate copyrighted material without appropriate attribution, perpetuate implicit biases, and sometimes integrate or report offensive concepts, products, or images. Students will be responsible for any inaccurate, biased, offensive, or otherwise unethical content they submit regardless of whether it originally comes from them or GenAI. It is each student’s responsibility to assess the validity and
applicability of any GenAI output that is submitted. Use of GenAI tools to produce work without authorization and/or appropriate acknowledgment or citation may be considered academic misconduct. Different classes at Cuesta College may implement different A.I. usage policies, and it is the student’s responsibility to be informed of and conform to the expectations for each course.

Evaluations and Grading

• Assignment Submissions: You will complete 7 submissions throughout the class. Submissions include discussion posts, a reaction paper, a 21-day SMART goal, a nutrition label, and writing papers based on peer reviewed articles. All assignments are described in depth, in their “home,” in modules. However, if you have questions, and you might, please don’t hesitate to ask. Each assignment submission is worth 25 points.
• Canvas Quizzes: 4 Canvas quizzes are due. Each of the Canvas quizzes is administered and submitted through Canvas (not Connect). These are worth 25 points each and will relate to a peer reviewed article I have chosen that discusses the content of the text/eBook readings.
• McGraw-Hill Quizzes: 15 quizzes are administered, worth 20 points each. Each quiz is made up of 20 multiple choice questions correlating to the chapters of the text/eBook. Quiz questions are drawn from the McGraw-Hill Connect quiz bank at random. No two quizzes are alike.
• Grading Policy: McGraw-Hill Connect quizzes are graded through McGraw-Hill Connect. Canvas quizzes are graded through Canvas. You will know which questions you answer correctly or incorrectly immediately. Written discussion posts and assignment submissions will typically be graded at the end of the week after which they are due. Rubrics and thorough descriptions for all assignments are posted to Canvas prior to the date for which the assignment is due.
• Due Dates: All modules are open, and assignments available at the time HSCI 202 opens. Each Monday I will post an announcement reminding you what is due for the week ahead. If you can’t complete an assignment or quiz on time you will have until the end of the course to complete the work and still be awarded full points. So, don’t worry, the assignment is NOT closed. This will be a very fast-paced course, but if you are diligent in your reading, and assignment completion, and have become successful at time management you will do great.
• Extra Credit: Examples of extra credit include performing fitness labs: stretch, run, lift., completing peer reviewed articles not assigned in the course and completing surveys, etc.

Student Learning Outcomes

1. Apply discipline-based assessment and evaluate strategies to express credibility and reliability of health literature.
2. Demonstrate accurate association between food choices, stress, exercise, environmental factors, risk of major non-communicable diseases, and accident prevention.
3. Evaluate lifestyle changes currently made or have plans to make as a result of taking this health education course.
4. Develop a plan for lifestyle changes that will reduce your risk of major chronic disease based on your family health history and/or current lifestyle.
5. Describe the dimensions of wellness.
6. Explain the effects of aging on the dimensions of health.

Course Objectives

1. Describe the dimensions of wellness (physical, intellectual, psychological, spiritual, social, environmental, and occupational) and their interrelationship.
2. Distinguish the difference between personal health and public health.
3. Apply nutrition concepts and dietary recommendations to diet planning throughout the life cycle and in the promotion of fitness/physical activity, weight management, body composition, and disease prevention.
4. Identify fitness principles and exercise program components to develop, engage, and improve cardiorespiratory endurance, muscular strength and endurance, flexibility, and body composition.
5. Describe the role of stress and mental health in health promotion and disease prevention.
6. Recognize the stimulus leading to violence and be able to minimize its occurrence.
7. Describe the roles of substance/use/abuse/misuse of drugs, including tobacco and alcohol in our society and discuss the short- and long-term impact to health, treatment, and prevention strategies for individuals, the community, the economy, and the social structure.
8. Analyze personal and family health as it relates to human sexuality, relationships, sexual orientation, and parenthood.
9. Identify and discuss specific preventative measures to reduce the risk of various disease and infections, unintended pregnancies, violence, and addiction.
10. Examine the physiological, emotional, psychological, and sexual aspects of aging.
11. Describe the inter-relationship between human beings and their environment.
12. Identify common practices and attitudes that contribute to accidents on a personal and community level and strategies that would reduce their occurrence.
13. Analyze health care delivery system, including inequities and discrepancies.
14. Interpret and evaluate health and medical literature information from general and subject specific library and web sources.
15. Communicate orally and in writing the scientific language of the discipline.
16. Analyze his/her lifestyle from a wellness perspective. In response, areas of personal behavior change will be identified and ideally, health-enhancing behaviors adopted.

Course Description

Presents the exploration of major health issues and behaviors in the various dimensions of health. Emphasis is placed on individual responsibility for personal health and the promotion of informed, positive health behaviors. Topics include nutrition, exercise, weight control, mental health, stress management, violence, substance abuse, reproductive health, disease prevention, aging, healthcare, and more.

Course Adds/Drops

After the census date for the course, if students have not contacted me directly and/or begun to complete coursework, that student will be dropped from the course. Additionally, I make it a habit of checking in with students who I notice have had a hard time keeping up with regular due dates, as dictated by the grade book. I usually take the time to reach out to those students to extend my help and encouragement. If I don’t hear back from students by the withdrawal period, I may take it upon myself to drop students.

Course ADD Policy Linked Here.          Course DROP Policy Linked Here

DSPS Accommodations

This course is designed using an accessible Learning Management System, and course materials have been created with ADA compliance in mind. If you have a disability and might need accommodation in this class such as extended time on exams or other resources. Please contact the instructor as soon as possible so that you can receive appropriate accommodation in a timely manner. You should also contact (Disabled Student Programs & Services)

Academic Honesty

It is expected that students comply with Cuesta Colleges Academic Honesty statement. Those who violate these principles by cheating, plagiarizing, or acting in other academically dishonest ways are subject to disciplinary procedures. Here is a link to navigate to academic honesty policies at Cuesta.

Standards of Conduct

All students attending Cuesta College, on campus or off-campus and when representing Cuesta College in any activity, assume an obligation to conduct themselves in an acceptable manner compatible with the Student Code of Conduct and the Student Computer Technology Access Agreement. (California Education Code Title V, sections 66300, 76030, and 76033). Link to navigate to standards of conduct linked here

Caveats

This syllabus is subject to change. Cuesta College and the California Community College chancellor’s office mandate that instructors continue to serve in the best interests of their students by following the course curriculum on record and working to achieve understanding of student learning outcomes.