Active learning is a broad concept that is used to refer to educational approaches designed to make students participate rather than passively listen,“anything course-related that all students in a class session are called upon to do other than simply watching, listening and taking notes”(p. 2)[1]. To this aim, a single methodology or a combination of techniques may be the best suitable option for a particular course and learning objectives [2; 3]. The students are actively or experientially involved in the learning process which leads to “greater student responsibility in the learning process, greater motivation and a more satisfactory final result for all those involved in the process”(p. 9)[4]. Effective implementation of active learning requires teacher preparation on pedagogical perspectives [5; 6; 7; 8]. There are many possible forms of active learning, including: problem-based learning, projectbased learning, challenge-based learning, service learning, gamification, and game-based learning. Flipped teaching approaches are also related to active learning because the passive part of the teaching process is carried out at home and the classroom time is oriented to activities rather than lecturing, sometimes connected by intermediate micro activities related to both classroom and home lessons which is the case of Micro Flipped Teaching [9].

Project-based Learning (PBL) is an instructional approach that adapts curriculum concepts and objectives through a project, representing then a “key strategy for creating independent thinkers and learners”(p. 39)[10]. Active learning through project-based learning experiences show that “high success rate in the learning outcomes allows to state that the students acquire the instrumental and systemic competences (...) as well as interpersonal skills such as collaborative work.”(p. 8)[11], important for engineering processes [12] like software development and relevant for increased motivation of engineering students [13].