The Virtual Assistant’s MOOC
A virtual assistant (VA) is a person who provides administrative, creative or technical support services to business owners. By taking up office tasks and administrative work, they can secure more time and offer flexibility to their clients. They often work from a home office and can be based in any country. Some virtual assistants work as independent freelancers, while others are part of a company or agencies. This is a rather new, but fast-evolving, work field in the EU and it shows great growth of the freelancing work force.
The VAMooc Erasmus+ project aims to create resources for VET learners and entrepreneurs on how to work as VAs, considering the skills and knowledge to develop, as well as the entrepreneurship skills specific to such jobs. By its completion, the project will provide the following results: R1 Booklet on Virtual Assistants, R2 Factsheets, R3 the MOOC, R4 Tutoring chatbot, R5 The Virtual Assistant’s Toolbox, and R6 Course design material for VET.
Throughout this project, the partnership seeks to offer an innovative methodology, tools, and strategies for the development of market-relevant skills in the business services sector. The partnership will also support entrepreneurship in this field. More specifically, the expected outcome of the project is the development of digital and entrepreneurship skills of the target group (VET learners and active entrepreneurs, trainers, tutors). This is going to be achieved by providing them with an attractive and engaging way of advancing their skills, using theoretical and practical resources.
At this phase of the project implementation, the partnership has completed the first two results: the Booklet on Virtual Assistants and the Factsheets. The Booklet on Virtual Assistants aims to familiarize readers with the versatility of the VA profession, and it is rather useful for those interested in 21st century skills and new job opportunities. One of the main goals of this booklet is to show that, contrary to what one might think, digital skills in general and the VA’s activity in particular, are not only for ICT specialists. There is in fact a great variety of digital services and skills that are needed on the business services market. The Booklet includes topics like: what is a virtual assistant, what is the situation of VAs in the EU, who can become a VA, what are the different ways of working as a VA, and general recommendations about those thinking of becoming VAs.
The second result of the project, the Factsheets, describe three aspects of a virtual assistant’s work: the different possible activities, the types of employment contracts and work opportunities, and a quick overview of the technologies and tools to use. This result provides an overview of the different ways to work in terms of contracting as a VA and provides practical guidance applicable to different contexts in the EU. The Factsheets shed a more neutral light on a VA’s work, i.e. not only the success story of an entrepreneur or the sales pitch of an agency.
The partnership is currently working on the third output of the project, the creation of the MOOC content, and the fourth output, a Tutoring chatbot. These are expected to be complete within the next months. For more information, you can visit the project’s website: https://virtualassistantmooc.eu/
