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FOOD1120 - Introduction to Food Science
SESSION 1, 2007
Course staff
| Staff |
Contact |
Consultation |
| A/Prof Julian Cox* |
Room 704/811, Applied Science
P: 9385 6063
F: 9385 5966
julian.cox@unsw.edu.au |
Via email or WebCT, or by appointment |
| Dr Jane Paton** |
Room 113, Building C8a
P: 9385 4368
F: 9385 5966
j.paton@unsw.edu.au |
Via email or WebCT, or by appointment |
*Course coordinator.
**Dr Paton will be on long service leave for much of Session 1, 2007. She will be involved in teaching some
classes, but enquiries regarding the course this year should be directed to Julian Cox in the first instance.
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General course information
Outline and aims
This is a course in two parts. As the name suggests, this course provides an introduction to food science (and
technology), through a series of lectures and on-line discussions, with a focus on the early stages of the agri-food chain,
the farm level and primary production. Several simple laboratory exercises will explore some of the fundamentals of food
science. Intertwined with the more technical aspects of the course is a series of lectures, learning activities and
assessment tasks aimed at supporting you as a learner/student and a future professional, through development or enhancement
of generic or transferable skills (also known as graduate attributes).
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Requisite knowledge and relationships to other courses
There are no formal prerequisites for this course. This course can be taken as a stand-alone course for non-Food Science
and Technology students. For students primarily in Food Science and Technology programs (3060 and 3970), though of
potential interest to others, this course is closely aligned with FOOD1130 The Food Industry: Professional Perspective
and Practice (LINK). Together,
FOOD1120 and FOOD1130 develop or enhance skills and professional practices, and provide a conceptual foundation for core
FOOD courses covered in years 2, 3 and 4.
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Target students and career prospects
Given its generic nature and the accessibility of food as a technical topic, almost any student in the sciences would
find this course both interesting and of great value. Whether development or enhancement is the aim, generic skills are
not only crucial to success in tertiary study, but are also highly valued by employers.
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This is a 6UOC course, with average contact of 4HPW. Most students taking this course will be part of Program 3060, the
4-year program in Food science and Technology, or the major in Food Science and Nutrition under the general Bachelor of
Science program. There may be a range of other students from a diversity of programs.
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Student learning outcomes
At the end of this course, the student will:
- understand the relationship between factors associated with the harvest of foods and final quality of that food
- extend and relate that knowledge to scientific aspects of food science and
technology, such as safety and nutrition
- appreciate some of the science underpinning food science and technology
- have gained or enhanced their knowledge and practice of a range of skills relevant to their careers within and beyond UNSW, including technical oral and written communication and working in groups
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Assessment
| Item |
Marks |
Due date |
Rationale and assessment criteria |
| Seminar |
10% |
Weeks 12/13 |
As an individual, you will (WILL) prepare and give a 5-minute presentation on a topic of your choice, of
relevance to food science and technology, using guidelines given or generated during the lecture sessions. While this
presentation is marked, it is largely formative, the primary aim being to provide you with feedback on your
presentation skills. Each seminar will be assessed by me (Julian!), at least three peers (students!), and you, the
speaker, using the same feedback sheet. You will also receive a CD-ROM of your presentation to assist you with self-
evaluation (unless you don't want to be videotaped). |
| Group writing - lab reports |
30% |
Week 11 |
Using the description of one of the laboratory exercises and the data generated in class you
will, as a group, prepare a report on that laboratory exercise, in the style and format of a scientific paper.
This exercise is designed to get you to present and analyse a piece of 'research' in a professional manner, as
technical writing is important not only while you're a student, but in your career. By following the requirements of a
scientific journal, you have a 'road map' to guide you in your writing in a consistent, professional style. |
| Online activities |
10% |
Ongoing |
A series of discussion topics relating to both the skills and technical aspects of
the course will be established on-line, using WebTeach. In addition, some class sessions require completion of on-line
tests or other exercises (pre- or post-class 'homework'); if these are not done you will not be able to participate effectively in the
related classroom exercises. It is expected that you will complete any tasks, as well as make at least one reasonable
contribution to each of the discussion topics posted. |
| Quizzes |
20% |
Weeks 10-14 |
Each in this series of quizzes will consist of 10 short-answer questions, based on
the technical lectures. A quiz will be held in the week following each of the lecture blocks, with the exception of
the final block; for those lectures, the quiz will be held in week 14. These quizzes are designed to engage you with
the content in the technical lectures themselves, and complement the on-line activities that, in part, extend from the
lecture material. |
| Group assignment |
30% |
Week 14 |
In a group of 5-6 members, you will produce a piece of targetted
communication. You'll select a concept in food science or food technology relating to one of the commodity types
to be discussed during the semester (see the lecture schedule), and determine an audience to which you'd like to
communicate that concept. With the concept and audience in mind, you should select a medium for communication and
deliver your message in that medium using language appropriate to the target audience. The assignment will be assessed
by me and by your peers, taking into account the quantity (= effort) of work put into the assignment, as well as the
quality of the assignment, evidenced by the alignment of the topic, audience, medium and language.
|
| TOTAL |
100%* |
*Achievement of 50% for the course is, in itself, not sufficient to pass
this course. You must achieve at least a pass mark for each of the assessment tasks. |
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Course schedule
The course consists of:
- 2 hours/week lecture-tutorials or performance sessions, Wednesday 9 - 11 am, in Room M07A Applied Science, and;
- 2 hours/week lecture-tutorials or performance sessions, Wednesday 2 - 4 pm, in Room G25, Electrical Engineering
Beside the two set sessions per week, additional sessions may be scheduled accommodate student seminars. Some activities
will be undertaken in other rooms, of which you will be notified in class the week before.
| Date |
Topic/activity |
(0)
3 Mar
JMC |
Introduction to the course (and each other!) |
(1)
10 Mar
JMC |
Working in groups - Part 1
Working in groups - Part 2 |
(2)
17 Mar
JMC |
Information literacy (Group A)
Information literacy (Group B) |
| MID-SESSION RECESS |
(M)
21 Mar
JMC |
Scientific writing |
(4)
28 Mar
JMC, JEP |
Laboratory session 1
Laboratory session 2 |
(6)
4 Apr
JMC, JEP |
Laboratory session 3
Laboratory session 4 |
(7)
18 Apr
JMC |
Oral communication - successful seminars
Playing with Powerpoint |
(8)
25 Apr |
NO CLASSES - ANZAC DAY PUBLIC HOLIDAY |
(9)
2 May
JMC, JEP |
Food science and technology - farm to factory
Topic 1 -
Fruit and veg - fresh is best
Food science and technology - farm to factory
Topic 2 - Something fishy |
(10)
9 May
JMC, JEP |
Food science and technology - farm to factory
Topic 3 - It's rice
Food science and technology - farm to factory
Topic 4 - feed the man
meat |
(11)
16 May
JMC, JEP |
Food science and technology - farm to factory
Topic 5 - moo juice and more
Food science and technology - farm to factory
Topic 6 - another? |
(12)
23 May
JMC, JEP |
Seminars
Seminars |
(13)
30 May
JMC, JEP |
Seminars
Seminars |
(14)
6 Jun
JMC, JEP |
Group project show 'n tell (informal)
It's a [course] wrap! |
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Resources for students
Students will be required to obtain a copy of the following text:
- Hutton, T. (2004) Food Preservation: an introduction. Key Topics in Food Science and Technology, No. 9.,
Chipping Campden, Campden and Chorleywood Food Research Association Group. ISBN 0 905942 69 8. Copies are available at the
UNSW Bookshop and through the UNSW Library.
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What is Plagiarism?
Plagiarism is the presentation of the thoughts or work of another as one’s own.*
Examples include:
- direct duplication of the thoughts or work of another, including by copying material, ideas or concepts from a book,
article, report or other written document (whether published or unpublished), composition, artwork, design, drawing,
circuitry, computer program or software, web site, Internet, other electronic resource, or another person’s assignment
without appropriate acknowledgement;
- paraphrasing another person’s work with very minor changes keeping the meaning, form and/or progression of ideas of the
original;
- piecing together sections of the work of others into a new whole;
- presenting an assessment item as independent work when it has been produced in whole or part in collusion with other
people, for example, another student or a tutor; and
- claiming credit for a proportion a work contributed to a group assessment item that is greater than that actually
contributed.**
For the purposes of this policy, submitting an assessment item that has already been submitted for academic credit
elsewhere may be considered plagiarism.
Knowingly permitting your work to be copied by another student may also be considered to be plagiarism.
Note that an assessment item produced in oral, not written, form, or involving live presentation, may similarly contain
plagiarised material.
The inclusion of the thoughts or work of another with attribution appropriate to the academic discipline does not amount to
plagiarism.
The Learning Centre website is main repository for resources for staff and students on plagiarism and academic honesty.
These resources can be located via: www.lc.unsw.edu.au/plagiarism.
The Learning Centre also provides substantial educational written materials, workshops, and tutorials to aid students, for
example, in:
- correct referencing practices;
- paraphrasing, summarising, essay writing, and time management;
- appropriate use of, and attribution for, a range of materials including text, images, formulae and concepts.
Individual assistance is available on request from The Learning Centre.
Students are also reminded that careful time management is an important part of study and one of the identified causes of
plagiarism is poor time management. Students should allow sufficient time for research, drafting, and the proper
referencing of sources in preparing all assessment items.
*Based on that proposed to the University of Newcastle by the St James Ethics Centre. Used with kind permission from
the University of Newcastle
**Adapted with kind permission from the University of Melbourne. |
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Student feedback is extremely important as part of continuous quality improvement in course design and execution. This
doesn't mean accepting all ideas, that might lead to a course being 'popular' or 'easy', but rather seeking and, where
valid and practicable, acting on feedback to create increasingly meaningful courses. One form of feedback is gathered using
the UNSW Course and Teaching Evaluation and Improvement (CATEI) Process, basically a score on performance. However,
wherever possible it is preferable to gather more detailed, qualitative feedback through open ended survey forms, class
discussions or focus groups. It is the intention in this course to conduct a more detailed analysis, as this year's
'version' of FOOD1120 is quite a departure from the past. It also represents one of your earliest experiences of learning
and teaching at UNSW; as such it's important that it is meaningful for you.
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- School policy on administrative matters relating to undergraduate students, including matters relating to examination
procedures, and what to do in the event of illness or misadventure, may be found on the School’s website
(LINK).
- Information on UNSW Occupational Health and Safety policies and expectations may be found on the Risk Management Unit
web site (LINK).
- Students who have a disability that requires some adjustment in their learning and teaching environment are encouraged
to discuss their study needs with the course convener prior to, or at the commencement of the course, or with the Equity
Officer (Disability) in the Equity and Diversity Unit (9385 4734). Information for students with disabilities is available
on the web site of the equity and diversity Unit (LINK).
Issues to be discussed may include access to materials, signers or note-takers, the provision of services and additional
examination and assessment arrangements. Early notification is essential to enable any necessary adjustments to be made.
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