Enhancing Remote Work Competencies in Croatia: Findings from VirtualEdu Project

The Erasmus+ project “VirtualEdu - Upskilling and certification scheme for virtual educators, managers, workers” aims to create a certification scheme that improves the skills of remote workers and certifies them. In addition, the main objectives of the project are the development of innovative training methods and materials, the establishment of a digital library of training materials and the organization of a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) to develop the skills of remote workers. This paper presents the results of a study aimed to identify a skills gap among remote workers in Croatia to support the design of the training curriculum for the VirtualEdu MOOC. In a developed questionnaire, respondents assessed the relevance of a set of competences and skills for remote work and for trainings aimed at developing these competences and skills. The questionnaire also aimed to determine perceptions of the usefulness of training to develop these competencies. The results showed that respondents (N=86) perceived the greatest need for the development of digital skills, self-management and organizational skills, specific skills for educators and collaboration skills. The interest of Croatian remote workers in developing remote work skills indicates the need for the development of lifelong learning opportunities such as VirtualEdu training.

Keywords: remote work, remote education, Massive Open Online Course, lifelong learning, skills gap analysis.