RESUMEN
Goal. The aim of this paper is to determine the attitudes and opinions of the members of the Pensioners' Club of the city of Osijek after the education was carried out with the aim of training them in information and communication skills. Methodology. The paper presents the results of the research conducted through interviews and focus groups among retirees, the members of the Osijek Retirees' Club. The research examined the attitudes and opinions of 10 pensioners on the topic of education in terms of information and communication technologies during March 2022 using the interview method. After the interviews, the attitudes and opinions of the retirees related to the use of technology were examined in a focus group (1) in which 9 retirees participated (some of whom attended the education, some of whom did not). Finally, a focus group (2) in which 4 retirees participated examined their attitudes and opinions about virtual reality. The respondents wore VR glasses and observed the history of Osijek in the period from 1920 to 2020 by decades. More specifically, they observed how objects, houses, newspapers, furniture and similar things covered in the mentioned period looked. The paper presents the attitudes and opinions of the participants of the workshops, and is a continuation of the previous research, conducted before this training (Jakopec, Selthofer and Hocenski, 2022). Results. The results of the conducted interviews and focus groups indicate that the majority of retirees share the desire for learning and acquiring additional IT knowledge. They own at least one device (mostly a desktop computer or a smartphone) through which they visit social networks, search for necessary information and read the daily news. The respondents who participated in the research believe that they need more similar workshops in order to establish and expand their existing knowledge. After the workshops, the pensioners stated that they are fully aware of the advantages that IT knowledge brings them, and they relate this knowledge to the use of technology during the COVID-19 pandemic, when physically going to certain places (for example, to the doctor) was not possible. The results of the second focus group in which 3D reality was observed using VR glasses have shown that the respondents were not previously familiar with the concepts of virtual reality. According to the participants, the workshop lasted too short, they felt disoriented, and the glasses did not impress them too much. They also pointed out that they wore them for too short a time to highlight something as an advantage, they did not remember much of the presented content, but they found it interesting. Most of them stated that they would like to repeat the experience, but with better instructions and extended time of wearing glasses. Limitations. The research sample is limited to a specific subgroup of the retired members of the Club, and is therefore not representative of the entire population of retired people in the city of Osijek and in the Republic of Croatia. Value. The results of the research indicate the attitudes and opinions of people of the third age towards education in the field of information and communication technologies and virtual reality. The results of the research contribute to the implementation of the "Active pension” project. © 2023, Hrvatsko Knjiznicarsko Drustvo. All rights reserved.