Dixie
State University Assistant Professor of Mathematics Dr. Vinodh Chellamuthu was
recently selected to be a Project SLOPE (Scholarly Leaders Originating as Practicing Educators) Research Fellow, an honor
only shared among six people in the entire nation.

Project
SLOPE is an initiative funded by the American Mathematical Association of
Two-Year Colleges (AMATYC) to gather a fellowship of educators in higher
education. As members, Dr. Chellamuthu along with the five other participants
are encouraged to engage in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL). The
six fellows will communicate on an online platform, introducing their ideas and
collaborating with one another until their summer workshop in Portland. In the
fall of 2020, they will all present their SoTL project outcomes at the AMATYC
Annual Conference.

“The SoTL projects will help the research fellows examine
their teaching practices and their students’ learning, they will then use these
assessments to make changes in their teaching,” says Project SLOPE coordinator, Megan
Breit-Goodwin. “Outcomes of
Project SLOPE will promote innovative teaching and learning in the first two
years of college mathematics.”

Prior
to selection for the six research fellows, each applicant was asked a series of
questions. One in specific asked what questions the applicant hoped to answer
with the help of this research program. Dr. Chellamuthu had just the answer.

“I
personally think it is not that students cannot do math, it is due to a block
students have towards math,” Dr. Chellamuthu says. “They have been brought up
their whole life thinking ‘math is hard.’ I want to find a way to show students
that math is important in society. In doing so, the perspective of mathematics
learning can change.”

Dr.
Chellamuthu strongly believes the Project SLOPEResearch Fellow honor will give him the
opportunity to meet many other talented educators from around the country as
well as enhance his pedagogical skills by drawing from the variety of teaching
styles and ideas.

“The SoTL projects will help the research fellows examine
their teaching practices and their students’ learning, they will then use these
assessments to make changes in their teaching,” says Project SLOPE director, Megan
Breit-Goodwin. “Outcomes of
Project SLOPE will promote innovative teaching and learning in the first two
years of college mathematics.”

With
the support of the research program and web interaction of the other fellows,
Dr. Chellamuthu’s work will be a great asset toward Dixie State University, as
he exemplifies our “active learning. active life.” institutional tagline.