<< Background >>We intend to create a set of tools for initial and continuous VET for learners on how to work as a virtual assistant (digital services provider), considering the job and business skills needed. In practice, we will create a MOOC, course design material to include the MOOC and methods into a VET course, as well as tutoring and guidance tools for virtual assistants in the form of a tutoring chatbot, a set of introductory factsheets, and a practical toolbox.I. Freelancers are the fastest growing segment of the EU labour market:In 2018 in Europe, there were about 11 million EU freelancers. This is in part why the European Commission has started advocating for the revision of the 2003 SME Definition since 2015 to acknowledge freelancers as a stand-alone category within the definition, who increased by 45% since 2000. However, such statistics gather people from a wide variety of professions, of which none is particularly useful to identify who virtual assistants are. This lack of information alone could be seen as a need for this project to shed light on new labour market practices.II. Working as a virtual assistant (VA) is not only for ICT specialists:According to a survey by EFIP and Malt, freelancers are most active in: 31% in marketing and communication, 26% in tech, 18% in arts and recreational activities.Also, the variety of tasks a VA can perform, ranging from low to high tech tasks, suggest that many profiles, not only ICT specialists, could benefit from this projects’ results.Finally, VA is can both be a complementary revenue (19% of respondents had multiple jobs) or a full-time activity (for 75% of respondents): 77% of the respondents made the choice to become freelancers, which reveals that it is a career that responds to new working methods.III. VET needs to train more in ICT and entrepreneurship and contribute to inclusion:-Cedefop’s latest European skills and jobs (ESJ) survey revealed that more than 7 in 10 adult employees in the EU need at least some fundamental ICT level to be able to perform their jobs, and expressed the need to mitigate the social exclusion effects of the digital divide by developing ICT skills in all professions.- Supporting entrepreneurship by the unemployed and people from vulnerable groups is one of the focuses of the Commission’s Europe 2020 strategy. - Developing learners’ and trainers’ ICT skills contribute towards the goals of the European frameworks on digital competences of educators, citizens and organisations.- As 10-15% of the EU population has at least one learning disorder, and they tend to be overrepresented in VET, there is a need for adapted training material.IV. There is a need for examples representing diverse European contexts:Partners’ come from diverse locations: poor areas in rich Western countries (Hauts-de-France and poorest area of Belgium), partners from the South (Spain, Cyprus), center (Austria) and East (Poland).This partnership gathers different contexts for self-employment (OECD, 2019): in Greece the self employment rate (32%) is more than twice the EU average (15). Poland (20%) is above the EU average, Spain (16%) and Belgium (14%) are about the average, France and Austria are below (12%). In 2017 according to Eurostat, Cyprus was also about 12%.V. VAs can contribute to spreading greener work and digital practices:French ecology agency ADEME reported in 2020 that remote work was overall beneficial to the environment in terms of carbon dioxide emissions, but that digital practices needed to become greener to mitigate their impact (rising use of videoconferencing tools, email inboxes left unmanaged, use of cloud servers, etc). VAs could integrate such recommendations into their work to reduce the impact of their own and their clients’ working tools throughout Europe.<< Objectives >>A virtual assistant (VA) is a person who provides administrative, creative or technical support services to other business owners. By taking over recurring tasks and administrative work, they can free up time and offer flexibility to their client. They often work from a home office and can be located in any country. Some virtual assistants work as independent freelancers while others are part of a company or agency.We aim to create a MOOC for VET learners and entrepreneurs on how to work as a VA, considering the skills and knowledge to develop as well as the entrepreneurship skills specific to such jobs.We intend to contribute to the following programme priorities:ADAPTING VET TO LABOUR MARKET NEEDS- We will develop a VET course in the form of a MOOC and course design material to provide guidance to use the MOOC as part of a training course in VET to enrich the curricula, programme offers and qualifications.- This course will offer a balanced mix of vocational skills and create work-based learning opportunities as it will be designed for people in training as well as active professionals, to create or improve an existing activity.- Virtual assistant is now a proper career based on evolving jobs, working methods and market needs that make the most of key and digital competences.Therefore, the outcomes of this project will support VET providers in the adaptation of their training offer to changing skills needs (in particular business skills and entrepreneurship), green and digital transitions (by developing trainees’ digital skills and providing new perspectives for learners and trainers into possible career paths).ADDRESSING DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION- Creation and innovative use of digital education content: the project’s results, in particular the factsheets introducing the different technologies, the MOOC, the tutoring chatbot and the VA toolbox will be open to any learner (not just active or aspiring VAs) wishing to develop their digital skills. - We will support the use of the European frameworks on digital competences of educators, citizens and organisations by training learners into related skills, in particular 1.3 Managing data, information and digital content and 5.3 Creatively using digital technologies as these are closely related to a VA’s tasks. In addition, trainers will be made aware of new teaching objectives and career paths to direct their learners towards.INCLUSION AND DIVERSITY- One of the key concepts during this project will be for partners to research learner personas to embody different strengths and challenges. The goal will not be to reduce people to stereotypes related to their identity, but to offer a set of concrete examples, needs and opportunities to show how everyone can consider becoming a VA. - While a first reading of a VA definition may make it sound like a job for IT specialists, it is quite the contrary: quite a lot of VAs’ skills are already mastered or can be learnt quickly by anyone, such as managing emails, writing transcripts, copywriting, etc. In that sense, it is not only accessible to those with higher education specialist degrees.- Working on building VAs’ work and entrepreneurship skills is inherently a way to promote equality and equity, as they are jobs that can be carried remotely (socio-economic inclusion), are less time sensitive than office jobs and therefore allow to manage one’s schedule more easily (particularly important for those who need to take care of families or need medical treatment), and they can be convenient for people with disabilities who can accommodate their work environment according to their needs.- All the project material will be adapted to the needs of people with learning disorders, who account for 10-15% of the EU population and who are often overrepresented in VET.- The course content will be accessible to people with hearing impairments thanks to video subtitles.<< Implementation >>The project partners aim to produce the following results:R1 Booklet on Virtual AssistantsR2 Factsheets (the work, the contracts, the technologies)R3 The MOOCR4 Tutoring chatbotR5 The Virtual Assistant’s ToolboxR6 Course design material for VETThe workflow of the project can be divided into 4 main steps:PHASE 1: Partners will start with desk research on Virtual Assistant and create a booklet (R1) at the start of the project in order for all the partners to start on the same knowledge basis and to communicate with their teams and with VET professionals. It will collect the results of relevant research on a virtual assistants’ job/tasks and working conditions.The creation of the factsheets (R2) will allow partners to move from the theoretical tone of R1 into a more practical perspective on the job and skills of a VA by creating factsheet to describe each possible task or working area.R1 and R2 will set the base for the creation of the content of R3 MOOC.PHASE 2 will consist it creating the MOOC (R3) and the tutoring chatbot for learners (R4), both in terms of creating content and implementing it on the technical platform.PHASE 3 will be focused on testing the MOOC (R3), keeping the tutoring chabot monitored and maintained (R4), as well as creating the VA’s toolbox (R5) that will differ from R2 in the sense that the toolbox will not be descriptive but provide practical tools, resources and working methods for learners and active VAs.PHASE4 will consist (1) in gathering participants’ feedback about the MOOC (R3) and tutor chatbot (R4) and updating them accordingly to ensure conte is up to date, (2) finalising the toolbox (R5) and (3) developing the course design material (R6) with practical guidance for VET organisations and trainers to use the MOOC and additional activities in-class as part of their curriculum.This methodology ensures that the content created in each result is tested and will receive appropriate feedback to provide the best possible results at the end of the project. In particular, the MOOC and tutoring chatbot will be updated according to learners and trainers’ feedback to make sure that the project offers a training course and supporting tools and content that can answer efficiently to the needs of digital services providers in training or active and of VET organisations.<< Results >>Through this project, the partners seek to offer an innovative methodology, tools and strategies for the development of market-relevant skills in the business services sector, as well as support entrepreneurship in this field. More specifically the outcome of the project will be digital and entrepreneurship skills development of the target group (VET learners and active entrepreneurs, trainers, tutors) by providing them an attractive and engaging way of doing it through a set of course, theoretical and practical resources.In addition, the project partners also defined secondary outcomes for this project:• Offering VET trainers attractive and motivating education methods, which will help to teach professional and digital skills through the creation of new job and business opportunities• Strengthening VET education and learners’ experience thanks to innovative and up to date courses (online and in-class)• Providing knowledge and skills, promoting problem-solving and working on real examples based on partners’ diverse profiles and locations• Sharing experiences and good practices in VET education in digital and business skills between project partners from interdisciplinary backgrounds• Offering an innovative and inclusive tool for all learners including those with SLDs• Providing practical tools and methods to make the services industry and entrepreneurship more inclusive• Contributing to the reduction of the environmental impact of the use of digital technologies in the workplace by training eco-conscious digital specialistsTo successfully realize those aims, the project partners will participate in the creation of OER which will allow learners to develop VA skills and entrepreneurship skills. All the resultswill be translated into the 6 languages of the project (EN, FR, DE, ES, GR, PL).The practical results of this project will be:• 1 pedagogical guide introducing what a virtual assistant is (what is their activity, where and how they can work etc.) and gather existing research• 1 collection on descriptive factsheets on a VA’s work, contracting/business skills, and technologies• 1 MOOC to train future virtual assistants and current professionals wishing to consolidate their knowledge and skills in the 3 aspects of a virtual assistants’ work, including tools and tutorials followed with at least 350 learners registered• 1 tutoring chatbot (conversational robot operating over a messaging platform) providing guidance, additional resources, coaching and suggestions fir learners to deploy their business• 1 toolbox for VAs gathering the practical tools and resources available for their activities• 1 set of guidance material for educators to adapt the MOOC and project results into a VET training course (workshop scenarios, lesson plans, ECVET guidance)Additional results:- The project’s website on which all the materials will be uploaded- Pilot tests in the 7 countries of the partnership with 350 expected participants- At least 15 trainers involved in the conception, testing and evaluation of the projects’ results- 3 transnational meetings and 3 half-day online meetings- 7 multiplier events in the partners’ countries- 1 virtual multiplier event to promote the launch of the MOOC