Dr. Rick’s Teaching Philosophy
“My guiding principles for teaching are reliant on a keen understanding of and appreciation for serving others, embracing all cultures, tuning in to new channels of learning and delivering a robust and experiential experience in the classroom.”
My teaching approach begins with the belief that faculty should ideally foster a relationship with students as prospective dancing partners. Teaching is a partnership based on recognizing the value of every student. When I enter a classroom, I have one goal in mind: to metaphorically “dance.” Students who anticipate a traditional “I teach, listen, and take notes” learning approach are likely disappointed! Whether in face-to-face or online teaching studios, my goal is to provide an environment where students can choose to unleash their discretionary energy and engage in the ‘perfect dance’ through a journey of learning outcomes, classmate interactions, and real-world activities and assignments.
My responsibility is to create a nurturing academic environment that leads to the perfect symbiotic "dance" of teaching and student learning. The hierarchical tension between student-professor and professor-student vanishes upon unleashing discretionary energy that lays the foundation for teaching and learning to begin. Students who feel comfortable in a learning environment learn and share dynamically. My role is to facilitate learning and sharing!
In giving yourself permission to teach, you become a dancing partner unleashing the energies of today's scholars and tomorrow's leaders. Students are your dancing partner. Teaching is a partnership contingent upon recognizing the value in and worth of every student, group, or team you encounter. I foster an environment where students can choose to unleash their discretionary energy and engage in the perfect dance through a journey of course outcomes, classmate interactions, and real-world activities and assignments.
The power of education cannot be overestimated. When tapped, it informs us, it moves us, and it challenges us to find new ways to consider, address, and embrace opportunities and challenges worldwide.
Teaching is an opportunity for me to bring a scholar-practitioner and research-oriented mindset to my students. I am informed by collaborations with colleagues and students, decades of real-world practices in nonprofit organizations and leadership roles, and adherence to quality academic standards. Intricately linked to growing up in a rural town, my guiding principles developed as I observed how community learned to rely on one another to farm, build, cook, and protect themselves. A "learn by doing, learn by observing" approach to teaching serves as a cornerstone to my experiential goals in developing sound practices to dramatically display and connect academic theory, research, and real-world experiences to complement the student experience. And, modeling learned skills is very important as I onboard the next generation of teaching faculty.
“This past year, Rick allowed me, to a certain extent, design, teach, and evaluate classes where we were partners. Essentially, he trusted me and provided critical feedback at moments when it was necessary to do so. I continue to learn from Rick’s style and expertise in and out of the classroom, as he engages with other faculty, administration, and students. I realize that Professor Rick Arrowood does much more than what I have mentioned here, from traveling the world educating people and conducting research to writing and connecting people to each other. He has already made connections for me, pairing me with other Professors from whom I have learned a great deal. This reminds me of an email I remember Rick sending to me and another colleague where he made that very point, of being thrilled that he was able to connect two people who could learn from each other.” Reference Letter, A. McCray.
Serving others comes naturally to me. I seek opportunities to help others, and while this takes effort, I often find that the need to help others highlights not only a gap in resources and services but also a need for education. Education in and of itself is a powerful tool, and when combined with serving others, it creates an impetus to real change. In my nonprofit leadership roles, I quickly learned that the call to help one person often rippled a response through the community expanding beyond to strangers. Dramatically, I witnessed the enormous generosity of donors and volunteers in providing direct assistance. But, I look back over the years and realize that serving others must include an emphasis on education to fill gaps and have a long-lasting impact on society indeed.
It has been my privilege and good fortune to have met and worked with Rick Arrowood almost twenty years ago, while I was a ranking state lawmaker from Boston, Massachusetts and spearheading a special project with the nonprofit sector. Rick was then serving as the Executive Director of the ALS Association, Massachusetts. Rick, in that capacity demonstrated leadership, compassion, resolve and nimble flexibility in working with me to support the passage of the first in the nation landmark public health legislation. During this multi year project, Rick Arrowood consistently and creatively performed his role as leader of a non profit membership group, legislative liaison and comforter in chief to the families and organizations who sought the passage of the legislation. His integrity, perseverance and humor was a steady companion to our success and collaborative efforts.
In recent years, I have had the honor and opportunity to be the recipient of Rick’s mentoring as a part time Instructor with the Leadership and DLP Programs at the College of Professional Studies. Whether as a guest speaker in Rick Arrowood’s classroom, or as a Teaching Assistant, or as an Instructor, I have gratefully witnessed Rick’s dedication, integrity and moral imagination with his students and peers.
Rick is a leader, an educator, a life-long learner and an innovator with humility and inspiration, which ignites students and colleagues alike.” Letter of Recommendation, M. Walsh.
My role as the lead faculty member in nonprofit management and human resource management programs provided me with opportunities to work directly with faculty. Also, I worked closely with mentoring faculty for our global leadership programs in Australia and Vietnam. The collaborative environment is one that I seek. I bring a constructive mindset of achievement, affiliation, and humanistic-encouraging through various projects and teamwork opportunities. I believe that good things start with the right actions. I am an action-oriented type of person who coaches others to unleash their passions, ripple their behavior, and be productive.
“Rick has been a top-notch leader-by-example in his approach with his students. Our team has benefited from his leadership through convening our group to meet and share teaching approaches, to his ready availability to meet or chat one-on-one to discuss thorny issues that benefit from the experience and advice of a creative, effective teacher. As I prepare to go to Ho Chi Minh City to teach in the Northeastern Leadership program, I feel ready for the tasks ahead of me thanks in large part to the sage advice from Rick who was there with these students just weeks ago.” Letter of Recommendation, S. Smith.
Embracing all cultures begins with respect and understanding that we all are created equal. Admittedly, my concept of "culture" to about age twenty was limited to a culture comprised mainly of southerners living in small-town Hiawassee, Georgia. I recall the times I asked my grandparents and great-grandparents, where our family came from; their response was always the same, Georgia. My curiosity never was satisfied. I suspect that much of my fascination to embrace and engage with multiculturalism is rooted in this not knowing yielding the desire to know. I firmly believe that food, language, music, and art should be incorporated in the classroom and class exercises to recognize and appreciate the culture in the classroom.
“As a student in his class, Rick definitely have an enviable and enthusiasm ability to hold the students enthralled through frequent changes of pace, humour, and fascinating sides of leadership style both psychological and mentality. His lectures are usually conducted with interesting topic and the most important thing is he always put his student as his priority. His willingness to help student and passion in teaching has touched many of the student’s heart which that includes myself. Not only that, Rick is able handle student with diversify cultural background and maintain the mutual respect between student and lecturer relationship. That is what makes him an extraordinary lecturer. As the attendance at Rick lecture shows that he is one of the most popular lecturers I have ever had on Swinburne University of Technology.” Letter of Recommendation, K. Lee.
“The first time I met Professor Rick J. Arrowood in our first leadership class in 2011, it was as if Professor Rick has known every student for quite some time. The reality was Professor Rick was able to effectively engage every student in such a way that transcended every cultural barrier and opened up the avenue for every student to be actively involved in the discussion process. In hindsight, Professor Rick was excellent using humour and culturally sensitive to his audience that cultivated their attention.” Letter of Recommendation, A. Nykea.
Tuning into a Global Mindset allows me to connect with new and ever-evolving channels of learning and personal development. I believe that linking in a vastly changing, more glocally-oriented society provides each of us with the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of our students and their families. International teaching abroad and teaching international students locally necessarily ask us to start with a blank canvas. It is crucially essential for faculty to maintain a sense of individual culture among and between their students. Our goal is to overcome the isolation of culture in the classroom and embrace the culture to benefit others. Our role in effective teaching is to open the barriers for learning, bridge cultural understanding, and foster an opportunity for cultural exchange.
He [Rick] has proven to be outstanding at [Swinburne University] both as a teacher and also in his capacity to engage with alumnae and international students on a number of initiatives. Students highly value his unorthodox approach to teaching that develops their personal skills and confidence and they reflect on their personal growth at our annual pinning ceremonies and attribute their achievements specifically to Rick.
Rick has also played a key role in promotion the international engagement mission of our Universities. I have co-written conference presentations with Rick promoting our dual degree arrangement, and travelled to China together where Rick presented as a guest speaker during a Swinburne Profiling Event. Together Rick and I presented at the American International Education Association Conference (AIEA) in 2014, and Rick also co-presented a paper along with our Vice-President, International and Future Students at the Asia-Pacific Association for International Education conference in 2013. M. Banks.
Delivering a robust and experiential learning experience in the online and on-ground classrooms is inextricably linked to my desire to work with all students. I believe we as faculty must come prepared, be engaged, and ensure that our courses meet accessibility standards for learners with disabilities, whether learning disabilities or physical disabilities. Course accessibility and learning opportunities are crucially significant to all students.
“Professor Arrowood is student-centered. He and I worked together to improve student accessibility to online courses. Mr. Arrowood spearheaded a meeting with instructional designers, Disability Resource Center representatives, senior faculty and myself to initiate a pilot program to ensure attention to best practices of course format and delivery for students who are hearing impaired.” Reference Letter, L. Ashline.
Connecting with Community and Staying Connected to Community
I am a relationship builder. Connecting with others comes naturally to me. I prefer intuition and feeling when identifying, building, and maintaining relationships. My connection to the student community, whether online or on-ground and the community-at-large, continually searches for ways to convey my desire to help others by maintaining a lifetime commitment to their learning. We only have a short window of opportunity to make a difference. Students need to feel that faculty are genuinely engaged in their life and their education. While it is impossible to connect with every student in the classroom or post-course, I believe that the opportunity does not end when the course concludes. Rather, the conclusion is itself a beginning for further development of the student. I am grateful for the opportunity given to me to serve as a coach, mentor, and facilitator. I am continually seeking new ways to recruit students and members of the nonprofit community as part of my growing network. I embrace social media as a way to assist in this effort.
“Very much like Spiderman, Rick Arrowood appeared on the scene and helped us through the monthly workshops offered through Sports and Society. Rick was also very generous with his own time to give us direction and feedback while we refined our mission. Rick and Sports in Society’s support has made all the difference. Thank you for giving us the ability to continue our work with these children and the tools we need to succeed. Dawn and I are excited to get back to Rick’s lectures in the fall to uncover the skills and information that will help us reach and empower more youth. There are no words to express the depth of our gratitude.” S. O’Brien, D. McGrath, Forrest Grace nonprofit.
“I indubitably believe Professor Rick’s commitment to international education and continuously working with students who reached out to him even after their study have to be recognized with profound gratitude because young and talented individuals from all walks of lives who did not think they are leadership - material and could succeed in any organization / company are now globally working in various businesses and are achieving exceedingly in every facet of their profession.” Letter of Reference, A. Nykea.
I focus my creative energies on course design, course content, and course delivery. My pursuit of a balanced classroom approach to teaching and learning encompasses additional class time for learners whose native language is not usually not English, a deliberate slower way of communicating in class or through audio or video, and one-on-one sessions with students who are struggling with course assignments or course comprehension.
Rick uses a variety of teaching methods to achieve course objectives including case study, class dialogue, experiential team-based activities, and problem-based learning approaches. Rick uses creativity and puts the students learning objectives first. His methods are infectious and paramount to anything I have ever seen.” Letter of Reference, H. Gregory-Mina.
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About Dr. Rick Arrowood
Dr. Rick Arrowood has taught in undergraduate and graduate education for three decades, held high-level leadership positions in nonprofit organizations and published numerous articles and research studies. He has given keynote speeches and presented on various subjects of nonprofit management and leadership in the USA, Australia, China, Russia, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Malaysia, and the Netherlands (The Hague). His academic areas include nonprofit management, law, global leadership, human resource management, and financial management. He holds several professional certifications in cultural competency, intercultural effectiveness, and leadership practices. He attained a Juris Doctor from Massachusetts School of Law, North Andover, Massachusetts, and a Doctor of Law and Policy from Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts.
Previously, former Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick credited him as a change agent in leading a grassroots effort to attain a legislative mandate providing the first-ever pioneering state-wide registry later replicated nationwide for individuals living with Lou Gehrig’s disease overseen by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Bureau of Environmental Division.
