HCC Audio Video Media Production students this semester received an unexpected scheduling edit that will not be making it on their film’s blooper reel. The edit was not on their first video assignments but the cancellations of their AVMP classes.
The HCC Times investigated the cause of these cancellations, the impact on AVMP students, and what it means for the future of the program at HCC.
We reached out to AVMP teacher and lead coordinator of the AVMP Program Patrick Pagano regarding the class cancellation issue. For those that are interested in learning more about Pagano or the AVMP program, check out this profile piece written by The HCC Times Staff Writer James Daly “A Few Frames of Patrick Pagano”.
When we asked Pagano about the cause of the AVMP cancellations, he stated that it was not the result of a lack of college funding or staff shortages, but due to late registration of AVMP students.
“The cancellation in AVMP is happening because a lot of students waited until the last minute to enroll into the AVMP 230- N-701 course and by the first Monday of the fall semester, there weren’t enough students registered for the class. It is not due to lack of funding [our] funding was increased this year. The staff will continue to grow as more classes are coming into the AVMP program and we will be adding two more faculty members for this upcoming spring semester”.
The class most affected by the cancellation was AVMP 230 Video Production one, which according to HCC’s credit course catalog was previously called TVRD-140.
The course includes the learning of video: direction, camera techniques, lighting and sound techniques, and editing techniques. The emphasis of the class is producing short video segments using television field production techniques and design principles. The course is an extremely important elective for students seeking an Audio Media Video Production Associate’s degree at HCC.
The HCC Times asked Pagano if this situation is indicative of any statewide trends at community colleges in Maryland.
Pagano explained “No, but colleges such as Montgomery College have been offering seven week classes because of COVID-19 due to lack of enrollment. Community colleges in general offer a variety of weeks that course takes place depending on the course material”.
There are plans for HCC to also have 7-week courses during the Spring and Fall semester; Montgomery College implemented 7-week courses around the Fall of 2020 as stated by Pagano and stated on an article on their website in response to the coronavirus pandemic .
The stated rationale as mentioned by Pagano is increased enrollment rates, and research not linked in the Montgomery College article, suggesting increased learning and retention rates for students.
Pagano talked about some of the possible benefits to the AVMP program regarding the 7-week course model
“HCC is moving to a seven week course and we are going to add more courses such as AVMP-200- Intro to Visual Storytelling and AVMP-262- Intro to Post-Production with after effects. In the future, AVMP students will have to enroll a semester in advance to plan your classes for your fall and spring semesters. Overall, this will benefit students in the long term to plan ahead of time rather than wait until the last minute. The AVMP program has a lot to offer such as communication(AVMP-150 Intro to Electronic Media), video-production, audio production, visual storytelling, concept and story-development and script-writing and editing and only will continue to grow.” It seems after reaching out about the AVMP class cancellations that despite the class scheduling issues this semester the AVMP program has solid plans to enhance and improve their program going forward.
Our investigation showed scheduling issues with AVMP courses were caused by the lack of on-time registration. Any students dealing with AVMP cancellations or cancellations in other courses should for future semesters register for classes as soon as possible when they become available. If students are having issues with courses being canceled, they are encouraged to reach out to advising or records and registration.
