Meet Cheryl Fulghum, an instructional technology leader and community college educator from North Carolina. With a passion for learning and creating spaces that inspire growth, Cheryl supports faculty at Haywood Community College by integrating technology into traditional, online, and blended courses.
Her OLC journey began in 2015 when she sought broader professional development and found a welcoming community. Since then, she has volunteered in various roles, from presenter and Field Guide to co-chairing Speed Networking, Innovation Studio, and the Community College Summit. Through OLC Presenter Services, she’s supported countless educators in sharing their expertise.
Keep reading to hear from Cheryl about her journey.
I’m Cheryl Fulghum, a North Carolina native, community college educator, learning enthusiast, and instructional tech junkie. My passions are people and creating spaces for them to learn and grow in ways that challenge and inspire others. In my role at Haywood Community College in western NC, I primarily champion faculty work by providing needed technology and digital tools for traditional, online, and blended classes.
My parents were both educators who believed higher education was a means to wholeness as a person and financial stability. Attending college was never an if but a where and what. I wasn’t the most motivated student, preferring the more social aspects of school, so I’m grateful for their expectations of me. I attribute what developed into a love for learning and helping others do the same to their firm belief that education propels and grows an individual.
I did not originally pursue teaching as a career but found it a natural fit for my training as a media content creator. My introduction to higher education was through adult education and second-language English learners who worked in the fields of local farms in western North Carolina over 20 years ago. I created a curriculum for a summer English program that led to teaching that led to training teachers that led to teaching in the commercial visual arts (film and video), which led to online learning and instructional design.
I discovered the amazing OLC community by a self-serving accident. I was new to my role in online learning and felt I needed to look outside local professional development offerings for a larger perspective. Since OLC Accelerate is held in sunny Florida, it beat out the other options. I attended my first OLC Accelerate conference in October 2015… and was hooked! My institution has been a member of OLC since 2010 (when it was Sloan-C). Only after attending Accelerate and experiencing the depth and breadth of professional expertise for teaching and learning in the presenters and attendees did I see the value in being involved.
My volunteer experiences have a wide range. I began as a presenter and Field Guide. I’ve co-chaired Speed Networking, Innovation Studio, and the Community College Summit, all posts that fuel my passion for people and how they experience energizing professional development. In 2022-23, I committed to a longer-term volunteer role with OLC Presenter Services. Working closely with OLC staff through a year and two conference cycles gave me a behind-the-curtain view of the organization’s mission. The organization relies on volunteers for both their person-power and field expertise, a generosity of collaborative spirit that I’ve come to admire about them.
Volunteering with OLC offers a type of networking that is difficult to find anywhere else and has fueled my development as a leader in the field of online teaching and faculty development. It’s easy to become isolated when you work in a department focusing on best practices in online learning within a larger institution that offers diverse learning settings. You feel like you’re singlehandedly ringing this bell: “Wait, have you considered how a digital environment could serve your learners’ needs?” Championing digital learning for all learning modes and settings is a theme with OLC. It’s good to be with your like-minded people.
A favorite volunteer experience is when serving as a mentor, surprising a presenter I’ve met with for weeks up until the event to wish them luck! I always seek out those I’ve worked with through the program – especially first-time presenters – to give them that last bit of encouragement.
I encourage all OLC enthusiasts to get in there and volunteer. It’s a fun and easy way to develop a professional network of people who do the work you do. There is room for everyone at the OLC table, and all interests and talents are welcome.
A self-professed digital tools junkie and champion of faculty teaching-tech strength, Cheryl spearheads faculty professional learning at Haywood Community College in western North Carolina. In her additional roles as instructional designer and online learning director, she spends much of her time seeking appropriate technologies to meet disclosed faculty needs. She believes innovation results from collaboration, and collaboration happens through positive working relationships. Cheryl brings a practical, creative, and sometimes comical approach to professional development. She promotes the idea that within every subject matter expert is a dynamic and audience-engaging leader who must first take themselves seriously enough to be a professional (sage) and then remove themselves from the proverbial stage for meaningful learning and growth to occur. She values meaningful interactions, diverse methodologies, intuitive technology, and valuable takeaways from conference experiences.
If you are interested in connecting with like-minded professionals and gaining professional development through volunteering for the OLC, we invite you to apply! We frequently have new opportunities and will reach out when there is a match to your indicated interests.
