ABSTRACT

This study aims to analyze major trends in Korean research on older adult education published between 2015 and 2024 and to propose a future-oriented research framework. As research in this field has rapidly expanded across disciplinary boundaries, traditional narrative reviews have become limited in capturing its overall patterns. To address this issue, this study employed text mining techniques, which allow for the objective identification of structural patterns within a large corpus and the quantitative examination of thematic changes over time. An analysis of 240 paper abstracts and keywords using keyword frequency analysis, N-gram analysis, and LDA topic modeling revealed that research on education for older adults has primarily revolved around lifelong learning, digital literacy, and cultural and artistic activities. In particular, digital competencies and cultural and arts programs emerged as the core domains of education for older adults. Health promotion and death awareness appeared as relatively independent topics. These results suggest that older adult education is shifting from adaptation-oriented and institution-based stages (1.0 and 2.0) toward a 3.0 era that emphasizes quality of life and existential reflection. This study highlights the need for future research and practice to expand toward digital-cultural arts convergence and deeper exploration of life meaning in older adulthood.