Development of Science Curriculum for Including Adult Learners in University: Return to Frontier

Objectives Adult learners are becoming increasingly important as a major learner group in universities. Because the university admissions resources are being depleted and the citizens' higher education completion rate is increasing so the level of educational demand is gradually increasing. This study was conducted to identify which civic education courses in science and technology should be opened at universities in order to pursue community-level and national-level benefits beyond the individual-level benefits of adult learning. Methods Focusing on the ISD process, TED lecture analysis, domestic citizen university science and technology education courses analysis, Seoul citizen demand survey, and holding of expert councils were conducted. Results The study results were that first, global citizens took the five most courses in TED lectures: space science, ecology/alternative energy, digital/mobile, biomechanics/artificial intelligence, and basic science. As of 2019, the Earth Environment Course and AI/digital Course were opened the most. In the four citizen universities in Korea, half of the content was focused on real life and the other half was at the level of university courses, but there were limitations in learning in-depth skills. Second, 78% of 1,877 Seoul citizens wanted the science and technology course. Experts choose six fields. Conclusions Several considerations was presented if universities should take into account when opening courses to citizens.