The international scientific student conference “Forum of Ideas” organised by the Faculty of Arts and Education of Kauno kolegija Higher Education Institution, took place on 20^th April. The 20^th anniversary conference attracted a lot of guests from abroad, as well as the interest of Lithuania and the support of the Kauno kolegija Higher Education Institution community.

Keys to success

The plenary meeting of the conference was moderated by Asta Pukienė, a lecturer at the Language Centre, and Dovydas Obcarskas, a student. The meeting was opened by the Head of the Kauno kolegija Higher Education Institution Career Centre, Dr Mindaugas Samuolaitis, with his presentation “Life Logistics”, in which he emphasised that life-planning is important, but it’s also significant to have a clear goal and a reliable team that will help you achieve it. “People who surround us are our keys to success,” said Dr M. Samuolaitis, emphasising that in order to achieve the set goal, you need to wisely choose people who will help you do it. “If we were running a business, we would hire people who are better than us in one area or another, but why do we do the opposite in life and surround ourselves with people who are like us? After all, they cannot be our teachers, motivators, because only those people who are stronger than us become them”, the Head of the Career Centre shared the insight. At the end of an interesting, useful, and thought-provoking presentation, Dr M. Samuolaitis emphasised that the most important goal of each of us is simply to be happy.

Artificial intelligence

Paulius Vaitiekus, President of the Lithuanian National Union of Students, continued the conference programme with the presentation “Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its Application in Higher Education”. He expressed the opinion that although most people understand the possibilities of artificial intelligence, they do not know how to make the most of them. For students, artificial intelligence can become a great assistant in learning, because it is able to adapt to individual needs: to find out the learner‘s weaknesses, strengths, the ways in which he best assimilates new material and, based on the collected information, choose the most suitable learning methods. “Thanks to artificial intelligence, the learning system can become more flexible, adapt to the student, and make the learning process itself more interactive and fun. It’s a great tool, but you shouldn’t rely on it 100 percent,” said P. Vaitiekus, mentioning the main disadvantages of artificial intelligence – violations of privacy and security conditions.“ Although artificial intelligence creates many and wide-ranging possibilities, it is not perfect. It is a tool that we can use, but we have to learn how,” said the president of the Lithuanian National Union of Students.

The topic of artificial intelligence was extended by Evelina Petkevičienė, founder of Luxury Marketing, Branding & Creative Agency “Miraceti”, in the report “How AI and Web 3.0 Are Shaping Fashion‘s Future?” “The fashion industry has always been really creative, breaking the rules, introducing new trends, so the use of artificial intelligence in its industry is extensive,” said E. Petkevičienė. Fashion giant “Burberry” is partnering with “Minecraft” to create joint projects using artificial intelligence capabilities, and such collaborations help to reach a larger audience of potential buyers. Other well-known brands are also using the capabilities of artificial intelligence: “Bershka”, “Tommy Hilfiger”, “Coca-Cola”. NFT collections, digital clothes are created with the assistance of artificial intelligence. “Innovation, sustainability, inclusive design – these are keywords associated with artificial intelligence in the fashion industry,” emphasised the founder of Luxury Marketing, Branding & Creative Agency “Miraceti”.

Translations and multilingualism

At the plenary session, the topic “Translating Culture – Can we Translate it all?” was presented by guests from Bosnia and Herzegovina, University Sinergija – Dr Marijana Prodanović and Dr Milena Škobo. In the presentation, they emphasised that the translator, when translating literary texts, must be attentive to cultural nuances, attentive to differences, also maintain the original style of the translated text and not lose the artistic value of the work. The guests also briefly spoke about the topic of artificial intelligence, emphasising that a person cannot really be replaced, but artificial intelligence technologies provide additional opportunities to improve his skills.

With the presentation “The sooner the better: why it is so important to learn second languages at an early age”, the plenary session was closed by the researcher of preschool education and children language development at the University of Crete, lecturer Prof. Marina Tzakosta. The professor introduced the factors that affect children learning foreign languages. Prof. M. Tzakosta emphasised that not only the child‘s neurology, linguistic environment, but even the mother‘s pregnancy period can have an influence.

At the sections – guests’ presentations from abroad and Lithuania

After the plenary meeting, the participants of the conference divided into nine thematic sections. Guests from Trinity College Dublin (Ireland), University Sinergija (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Singidunum University (Serbia), Hasan Kalyoncu University (Turkey), Kaunas University of Technology gave presentations in the “Translation” and “Language Challenges” sections; in the section “Creativity as a common denominator of being and innovation” guests from Rezekne Academy of Technologies (Latvia), Wood Technology School Maribor, Higher Vocational College for wood and design (Slovenia), Vilniaus kolegija / Higher Education Institution, Šiauliai State Higher Education Institution shared their insights; in the sections “Design metamorphoses of image and style”, “The effect of architectural solutions and the formation of interior space on human well-being”, “Social phenomena in design solutions and artistic expression” presentations were prepared by Kauno kolegija Higher Education Institution students, in the section “Sustainable design solutions for personal image and society well-being” – presented students of Vilniaus kolegija / Higher Education Institution and Klaipėdos valstybinė kolegija / Higher Education Institution, in the section “Visual expression in art and design projects: tools and specificity” – participated students of Vilnius Academy of Arts; in the sections “Theoretical and practical aspects of children‘s education (I)” and “Theoretical and practical aspects of children‘s education (II)” – students from Vilniaus kolegija / Higher Education Institution, Panevėžio kolegija / State Higher Education Institution, Kaunas nursery-kindergarten “Spindulėlis”, and Kaunas district nursery-kindergarten in Garliava “Uosiukas” shared their insights.

Accompanying exhibitions

As every year, the “Forum of Ideas” conference was accompanied by on-site and virtual students’ exhibitions. Participants were invited to visit the exhibitions “Artistic expression of nature in spring” (curators: Sigita Grabliauskaitė, Monika Imbrasaitė), “Architectural motifs in batik” (curator: Neringa Šiupinskienė), exhibited at Kauno kolegija Higher Education Institution (Pramonės pr. 22A, Kaunas), and also to view virtual ones: students’ group exhibition “Creative Surfaces” and Vilniaus kolegija / Higher Education Institution Faculty of Pedagogy student’s Kristina Žvinklytė exhibition “The journey of educational programmable robots “Blue-bot” in a group of four-year-olds” (supervisor: Dr Renata Kondratavičienė).