JAN 12

1. JAN 12: Course Introduction

What's so exciting about studying food deeply at this time? Start a list....
Philosophy of Food Course Research Questions
Disciplines represented in the course: gastronomy, food history, bio-history, evolutionary psych, economics, politics, nutrition, microbiology, soil agronomy, food ethics.
Major Course Topics (see reading list): Microbiome, Macro-nutrition, Dietary Guidelines, Western Industrial Diet, Gastronomy, Food philosophy, Food History, Food and Animal Ethics, Environment and Agriculture, Food and Power, Food and Religion, Organic Diets and Organic/sustainable agriculture.
Practical Outcomes for you from the course: This is an academic course, but you have the option of doing a "practicum" involving specific goals you may have for your personal diet and practical approach to food. This has been added to your default grading scheme, but it is an optional assignment. You could do a Research Paper instead. (Student Introductions)

Course Websites: Wiki & Courses.alfino.org (linked from alfino.org). How to log in.

You will be able to make some choices about what you are graded on and the weight of different assignments. This is your "grading scheme." You can customize up to 35% of your grading scheme to suite your learning style or motivations in the course. You will also have some grade information about "Points" assignments that will allow you to raise or lower the weight of "Points". This allows you to work on early difficulties without a big effect on your final grade.

In this course we use pseudonyms to allow sharing of grade information and student work - You will see most of the writing and scoring for required writing assignments, including my assessments of other student's work. This has many benefits. (Show ids and grade pseudonyms.)

a. Looking at reading comprehension. I no longer use reading quizes, but you should compare your "recall" from reading in class with others'. Comment on reading comprehension and its role in performance.
b. Learning to assess writing. Writers improve when they acquire skills in evaluating their own and others' writing. We will cultivate these skills directly and through peer review.
c. Building from small, short writing, to longer, more complex writing. The writing skills in this course are sequenced and early assignments give you performance information without affecting your grade much. (Some student introductions.)

There is no final exam in this course, so your success depends upon demonstrating the philosophical skills we build toward in required and optional assignments.
Prep Cycle - view reading notes as you are reading, read, note, evaluate preparation against other students' access to reading content in class and small discussions. Hierarchy of skills and goals.
Reading - Keep track of the time you spend reading for the course. Mark a physical text. Contact me if your reading quiz scores are not what you expect. There are lots of ways to improve your reading skills.
Speaking and Discussion - Don't underestimate the importance of practicing the articulation of your views. This happens in class together and in small groups. Speaking well is at least as important as writing well. Small group discussions provide your most extensive opportunities to improve your articulateness ahead of writing assignments.
Writing - We will train on the rubric early on, you will be able to read lots of other students' writing and compare scores, and discuss your writing with me, especially during office hours. Because everything is transparent, you can compare your work to slightly higher and lower evaluated student work. This often leads to productive office hour discussions. (Some student introductions.)

Please write a 200-300 word maximum answer to the following question by Friday, January 14, 2022, 11:59pm. This assignment will give us some initial writing to look at and give you practice with the dropbox protocol for turning in pseudonymous writing in the course. For this assignment, the writing itself is ungraded, but you will receive 15 points for following the instructions accurately and meeting the deadline.

Topic: What kind of eater are you? How would you describe your relationship to food? The following questions are meant to help you develop your answer. Do not answer the questions directly, but prepare a well-written paragraph drawing on some of the questions that are relevant to you.

How would you describe your diet? What categories of foods will you eat or not? On principle or preference?
Do you like foods related to your ethnicity? Do you cook?
How important or prominent is food in your memory as a child or your current life or both?
Do you engage in food related social media activity?
Are you a good cook? Do you dance when you cook?
Did your parents or guardians cook from scratch for you? Did they cook? Did you learn to cook?
How knowledgeable are you about nutrition? Is your experience of food connected to concerns about nutrition and dietary disease or not so much?

To assure anonymity, you must remove your name from the the "author name" that you may have provided when you set up your word processing application. For instructions on removing your name from an Word or Google document, [click here].
Format your answer in double spaced text, in a typical 12 point font, and using normal margins. Do not add spaces between paragraphs and indent the first line of each paragraph.
Do not put your name in the file or filename. You may put your student ID number in the file. Always put a word count in the file. Save your file for this assignment with the name: [filename].
To turn in your assignment, log into courses.alfino.org, click on the "#0 1st Writing and Dropbox practice" dropbox.
If you cannot meet a deadline, you must email me about your circumstances (unless you are having an emergency) before the deadline or you will lose points.

Make sure you can find the two course websites and that you understand what information and tools each provides.
Fill out the "First Day Food Survey" if you did not do so in class.
Read Nutrition, Satisfaction, Practicality and Dietary Change (also linked from main wiki page)
Write up your Food Biography and submit it (up to 15 points) by Friday. (see wiki notes)
Make plans to visit during office hours to discuss your Practicum or Research option.
Keep an eye out for Food News!