Successful student-faculty partnerships should evidence the presence of the three guiding principles: respect, reciprocity, and shared responsibility. Therefore, the study focusing on the three guiding principles of partnership respect, reciprocity and responsibility have sought to investigate how students experience student–faculty partnership in a service-learning project in the undergraduate architecture course using a quantitative study. The study shows that students can contribute as partners in architecture course teaching, learning and assessment. The results highlight the need for students to be given the opportunity to be more involved in the decision-making process decisions about their own learning in student-faculty partnerships. Therefore, the study suggests to promote effective partnership in architecture learning, students should be treat as equal partners by faculty.
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Engaging students in learning is a concept of interest in higher education as engagement can be used as a measurement of successful learning and as an outcome of effective teaching (Sharan & Geok, 2008). Wieman and Perkins (2005) investigated the effect of traditional instruction and student learning of physics, recommended better teaching methods that can prevent excessive intellectual, for instance using learning that uses technology and computer simulations. Current trends in education also shows student engagement is perceived as an important characteristic of quality teaching and learning in higher education. (Ashwin & Mcvitty, 2015). In line with these, many universities aim to provide learning for the future that goes beyond the fundamentals of knowledge to include the methods, capabilities, skills, qualities, and values.
Audas and Willms (2001) defined engagement as the level of student’s involvement and enthusiasm in their academic and non-academic activities. Coates (2007) terms engagement as “a broad construct that includes important academic and non-academic aspects of the student experience, that includes active and collaborative learning; participation in challenging academic activities; formative communication with academic staff; involvement in enriching educational experiences; feeling legitimated and supported by university learning communities” (p.122). In general the concept of “student engagement” is established on the belief that learning enhances when students are enticed, curious, or enthused, and that learning inclines to be “disengaged” when students are not affected, passionate or motivated. Thus, academics often explore various instructional approaches with the aim to improve student engagement in learning. Academic engagement is multidimensional (Carini, 2012), which has integrated components of behavioral participation, emotion and cognitive or how students behave, feel, and think (Fredricks et al., 2004). The authors distinguished the three component behavioral engagement--the idea of participation on both in academic and extracurricular, emotional engagement - affective reactions such as interest, enjoyment, or a sense of belonging and the cognitive engagement -that incorporates reflection and initiative needed to comprehend complex ideas and master difficult skills. Other than academic engagement in many contexts, student engagement may also refer to the ways in which institutions might engage students in the governance and decision-making processes, in the design of programs and learning opportunities, or in the civic life of their community. Student engagement is increasingly viewed as one of the keys to addressing problems such as low achievement, boredom and alienation, and high dropout rates. (Fredricks, Blumenfeld, and Paris 2004). It is believed that engaged students will be more curious about a subject — perhaps even more passionate about it. Engaged students are more likely to perform well in their academically, thus increasing engagement can help to improve student motivation and student learning, progress and achievement as well as overall learning outcomes.