Implementing active learning methods in engineering education is becoming the new norm and is seen as a prerequisite to prepare future engineers not only for their professional life, but also to tackle global issues. Teachers at higher education institutions are expected and encouraged to introduce their students to active learning experiences, such as problem-, project-, and more recently, challenge-based learning. Teachers have to shift from more traditional teacher-centered education to becoming instructional designers of student-centered education. However, instructional designers (especially novice) often interpret and adapt even well-established methods, such as problem-based learning and project-based learning, such that the intended value thereof risks being weakened. When it comes to more recent educational settings or frameworks, such as challenge-based learning, the practices are not well established yet, so there might be even more experimentation with implementation, especially drawing inspiration from other active learning methods. By conducting a systematic literature analysis of research on problem-based learning, project-based learning, and challenge-based learning, the present paper aims to shed more light on the different steps of instructional design in implementing the three methods. Based on the analysis and synthesis of empirical findings, the paper explores the instructional design stages according to the ADDIE (analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation) model and provides recommendations for teacher practitioners.

Community is a key element in a sustainable urban environment and possesses a capacity to become a major contributor in the development of it. Therefore, it is essential for communities to be active and engaged. The concept of a community and its engagement via mural art is addressed in this article. The aim of the research is to investigate the impact of mural art on community engagement and the contribution of communities to a sustainable urban environment. The research was based on materials obtained during the implementation of the “Murals for Communities” project. The aim of the project was to address the issues of community engagement in three cities with social disconnection: Waterford (Ireland), Heerlen (the Netherlands), and Kaunas (Lithuania). The engagement of the communities through mural art creation was initiated through community engagement workshops where the communities were encouraged to participate in collaborative actions resulting in the improvement of the urban environment and the strengthening of the communities themselves. In total, 54 community engagement workshops were organized and 18 murals were created in the three partner cities. The entire process of community engagement was a well-coordinated and structured framework of actors and events, where each of them played a significant role. The results of the research revealed that community engagement workshops were used as a successful tool for community bonding and strengthening. Hence, mural art is a successful tool for sustainable community development, and the process of mural creation with its various stages enables community members to be active participants of social interaction and developers of both a sustainable community and a sustainable urban environment.

Due to the interrelation with culture, politics, economy and other major spheres of social life, SPORT discourse occupies quite a significant part of a modern society, therefore, the analysis of SPORT metaphors is important and necessary. The research of conceptual metaphor within the framework of translation studies is a relatively new and unexplored field in Lithuanian linguistics. Since SPORT metaphors are especially popular in political communication, the cases where sport in public discourse is considered as a visualization of policies and related areas are frequently investigated. The aim of the research was to reveal translation strategies used for the translation of SPORT metaphors from English to Lithuanian in audiovisual discourse related to SPORT. The research revealed that four translation strategies, namely: word for word translation, substitution, paraphrase, complete omission and retention were employed by the translators. The results of the research also demonstrated, that the most frequent source domain for the sport metaphors was WAR, which was the most frequently preserved using word for word translation strategy. In the case of other translation strategies, either the source domain was substituted in the translated text, or, in the majority of cases, the metaphorization was escaped. The target domain SPORT was represented similarly in both the source and the target languages, either implicitly by a larger context, or explicitly by lexical units containing a semantic element “related to SPORT”. The research revealed that while choosing the translation strategy for the translation of conceptual metaphors, three key factors should be taken into consideration, such as cultural, cognitive and sociological factors. Conceptual metaphors are an inseparable part of SPORT and they reveal in what terms SPORT can be defined in a particular culture. In order to understand how conceptual metaphors are perceived and what ideas are conveyed it is necessary to analyse the way they are transferred from the source culture to the target one.

Intersemiotic translation as defined by Roman Jakobson (1959) has been referred to and used in many different case studies including text and pictures or sounds. This is also the starting point for our research. We draw as well on the concept of multimodality and sketch the different historical and social functions of murals. The article consists of two research projects. The first project is based on a programme related to citizens' cultural awareness and social inclusion launched by the municipality of Kaunas (Lithuania). We describe all the steps from the written official call to the implementation of their ideas by the artists. Two murals (2016-2018) are under systematic scrutiny. The second project refers to "Places of Interest" (2016), a project combining a photo of a place, a recorded description of the photograph and a painting derived from the recorded description by an artist living in a different country. The murals and the photo/painting are framed within a specific verbal context. We explore how the meanings are translated, how the different agents of the process interpret the directives and narratives. In the last section, we discuss further the conceptual implications of our work, especially the relevance of 'intersemiotic translation' and the need to re-question the concept of 'translation'.

Introduction: The complex phenomenon of engagement in the research draws upon the sociocultural theories and emphasizes the three interrelated dimensions: behavioral, emotional/affective, and cognitive. Student engagement in academic life is a key factor for student wellbeing, making it essential to address the issues related to student engagement to be able to foster overall academic success. The research has shown that the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the academic environment including students' performance and their social and private lives.Methodology: In order to help young people prepare to become students, an analysis of student needs and experiences was carried out at three universities: the University of Stavanger (Norway), Kaunas University of Technology (Lithuania), and the University of Iceland (Iceland). Focus group discussions were used to collect data about the students' experience entering university and what challenges first-year students faced before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. A total of 17 first-year (6 males and 11 females) who started their studies during COVID-19 lockdown and 16 second-year students (9 males and 7 females) who started theirs studies before COVID-19 participated in the focus groups discussions. The collected data consists of students' responses during the focus group discussions. The qualitative thematic content analysis was used to identify emergent themes and categories.Results: The results of the research indicate that students face several challenges when entering university: adapting to the academic environment and the student role, information overload, social relationships, communication, and self-esteem issues. Students who started their studies during the pandemic indicated different experiences and challenges in adapting to university life.Discussion: This research faced several constraints, including the limited sample size, the focus on only three universities in Northern Europe, and the reliance on self-reported data from the focus group interviews, which may not fully capture the diversity of student experiences. Despite these limitations, the research provides valuable insights into the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on student engagement and the unique challenges faced by new students during this period. The results of this research confirm the findings of previous research claiming that the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic vary depending on the environment. Students need a variety of targeted and /or intensive support services to address their increased social, emotional, and academic needs.