Course Coordinator:Jeffrey So (jso@usc.edu.au) School:School of Health - Nutrition and Dietetics
Online |
Online | You can do this course without coming onto campus, unless your program has specified a mandatory onsite requirement. |
Please go to unisc.edu.au for up to date information on the
teaching sessions and campuses where this course is usually offered.
Principles of Nutrition introduces you to the basic principles of nutrition across the human lifespan. You will learn the role and function of nutrients, dietary patterns and human health, nutritional requirements including deficiency and toxicity, nutrient reference values, food sources of nutrients, energy balance and appetite regulation, and common serve sizes of foods. The second half of the course covers special nutrient needs of people across the lifespan including pregnancy and lactation, infancy, childhood and adolescence and nutrition for healthy ageing.
| Activity | Hours | Beginning Week | Frequency |
| Online | |||
| Learning materials – Students to engage with online learning materials including lecture modules, course worksheets and multiple choice questions | 12hrs | Week 1 | 12 times |
| Tutorial/Workshop 1 – Students to engage with online workshops (delivered via zoom) to consolidate online learning materials and provide assessment support | 2hrs | Week 3 | 4 times |
200 Level (Developing)
12 units
| Course Learning Outcomes On successful completion of this course, you should be able to... | Graduate Qualities Completing these tasks successfully will contribute to you becoming... | |
| 1 | Describe the role and function of both macronutrients and micronutrients. | Knowledgeable |
| 2 | Describe and interpret the nutrient reference values and outline how and why nutritional requirements change across the lifespan. | Knowledgeable |
| 3 | Identify relevant nutrient deficiencies and toxicity symptoms with consideration for changes across the lifespan and vulnerable populations. | Knowledgeable |
| 4 | Identify food groups, their nutrient composition and distinguishing nutrients. | Knowledgeable |
| 5 | Explain the development of the Australian Dietary Guidelines and the Australian Guide to Healthy Eating and describe their application toward nutritional requirements for optimal human health | Knowledgeable |
| 6 | Apply knowledge of food composition, food serve sizes, methods of assessing human energy expenditure and body composition assessment to various populations. | Empowered |
Refer to the UniSC Glossary of terms for definitions of “pre-requisites, co-requisites and anti-requisites”.
LFS103 or LFS112 or HLT100 or SPX103
Not applicable
FSN212
It is assumed that students will have basic knowledge in human physiology.
Not applicable
Standard Grading (GRD)
| High Distinction (HD), Distinction (DN), Credit (CR), Pass (PS), Fail (FL). |
Students will be provided with early formative feedback through interactive quizzes online and throughout online tutorials.
| Delivery mode | Task No. | Assessment Product | Individual or Group | Weighting % | What is the duration / length? | When should I submit? | Where should I submit it? |
| All | 1 | Case Study | Individual | 30% | 8 short answer questions |
Week 5 | Online Assignment Submission with plagiarism check |
| All | 2 | Artefact - Creative, and Oral | Individual | 30% | 1 x standard page (e.g. PowerPoint slide or equivalent) |
Week 12 | Online Assignment Submission with plagiarism check |
| All | 3 | Examination - Centrally Scheduled | Individual | 40% | 2 hours |
Exam Period | Online Submission |
| All - Assessment Task 1:Workbook | |||||||
| Goal: | The goal of the workbook is to provide students with the opportunity to showcase their learning from the content covered in weeks 1-4 using case study scenarios in the format of an interactive workbook |
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| Product: | Case Study | ||||||
| Authorship Statement: | |||||||
| Format: | Interactive workbook including case study scenarios with short-answer questions. Further details will emerge throughout the trimester. This is an individual assessment. |
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| Criteria: |
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| Generic Skills: | Communication, Problem solving, Organisation, Information literacy |
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| All - Assessment Task 2:Infographic | |||||||
| Goal: | The goal of this task is to provide you with an opportunity to create an innovative and informative infographic which demonstrates your understanding of the role and function, food sources, nutritional requirements and health-related evidence for a particular micronutrient. |
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| Product: | Artefact - Creative, and Oral | ||||||
| Authorship Statement: | |||||||
| Format: | You will be required to produce an informative, yet creative on a particular micronutrient. Your infographic should include (but not limited to) food sources, nutritional requirements, including deficiency and toxicity, relevant implications on nutritional changes throughout the lifecycle and the latest research/evidence for the selected nutrient. This nutrient will be randomly allocated to you at the beginning of the trimester. Further details will emerge throughout the trimester. This is an individual assessment. |
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| Criteria: |
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| Generic Skills: | Communication, Problem solving, Organisation, Applying technologies, Information literacy |
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| All - Assessment Task 3:Final exam | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Goal: | To show your understanding and apply knowledge related to the theory of human nutrition |
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| Product: | Examination - Centrally Scheduled | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Format: | A comprehensive, two-hour final examination of content taught throughout this course. The exam will be undertaken using a lockdown browser for the purpose of secure assessment. Further details will emerge throughout the trimester. Date to be advised. |
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| Criteria: |
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| Generic Skills: | Communication, Problem solving, Information literacy |
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A 12-unit course will have total of 150 learning hours which will include directed study hours (including online if required), self-directed learning and completion of assessable tasks. Student workload is calculated at 12.5 learning hours per one unit.
Please note: Course information, including specific information of recommended readings, learning activities, resources, weekly readings, etc. are available on the course Canvas site– Please log in as soon as possible.
You need regular access to the resource(s) below. Many texts are available as ebooks through the Library at no additional cost.
| Required? | Author | Year | Title | Edition | Publisher |
| Required | Eleanor Whitney,Sharon Rady Rolfes,Tim Crowe,Adam Walsh | 2022 | Understanding Nutrition | 5th | Cengage AU |
NUT212 is delivered as an online course using a very deliberate and structured approach. It is therefore critical that students have access to the course text: Understanding Nutrition: Australia and New Zealand edn; 5th edition. Access to the 4th edition will also be acceptable.
Academic integrity is the ethical standard of university participation. It ensures that students graduate as a result of proving they are competent in their discipline. This is integral in maintaining the value of academic qualifications. Each industry has expectations and standards of the skills and knowledge within that discipline and these are reflected in assessment.
Academic integrity means that you do not engage in any activity that is considered to be academic fraud; including plagiarism, collusion or outsourcing any part of any assessment item to any other person. You are expected to be honest and ethical by completing all work yourself and indicating in your work which ideas and information were developed by you and which were taken from others. You cannot provide your assessment work to others. You are also expected to provide evidence of wide and critical reading, usually by using appropriate academic references.
In order to minimise incidents of academic fraud, this course may require that some of its assessment tasks, when submitted to Canvas, are electronically checked through Turnitin. This software allows for text comparisons to be made between your submitted assessment item and all other work to which Turnitin has access.
Eligibility for Supplementary Assessment
Your eligibility for supplementary assessment in a course is dependent of the following conditions applying:
(a) The final mark is in the percentage range 47% to 49.4%; and
(b) The course is graded using the Standard Grading scale
Eligibility for Supplementary Assessment Your eligibility for supplementary assessment in a course is dependent of the following conditions applying: a. The final mark is in the percentage range 47% to 49.4% b. The course is graded using the Standard Grading scale c. You have not failed an assessment task in the course due to academic misconduct.
Late submissions may be penalised up to and including the following maximum percentage of the assessment task’s identified value, with weekdays and weekends included in the calculation of days late:
(a) One day: deduct 5%;
(b) Two days: deduct 10%;
(c) Three days: deduct 20%;
(d) Four days: deduct 40%;
(e) Five days: deduct 60%;
(f) Six days: deduct 80%;
(g) Seven days: A result of zero is awarded for the assessment task.
The following penalties will apply for a late submission for an online examination:
Less than 15 minutes: No penalty
From 15 minutes to 30 minutes: 20% penalty
More than 30 minutes: 100% penalty
For more information on Academic Learning & Teaching categories including:
For more information, visit https://www.usc.edu.au/explore/policies-and-procedures#academic-learning-and-teaching
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