This study aimed to examine the effects of a basic generative artificial intelligence (AI) education program conducted at ___ University in Busan on AI literacy and beauty design competence among adult learners majoring in beauty-related fields. Where...
This study aimed to examine the effects of a basic generative artificial intelligence (AI) education program conducted at ___ University in Busan on AI literacy and beauty design competence among adult learners majoring in beauty-related fields. Whereas prior research on generative AI education has primarily focused on elementary and secondary students, university students, or learners in engineering and computer-related majors, this study targets 25 middle-aged and older adult learners in their 40∼60s specializing in beauty studies. In doing so, it integrates the assessment of both AI literacy and major-specific beauty design competence. A single-group pretest–posttest design was employed over a 15-week basic generative AI education program. Data were collected using an AI literacy questionnaire, rubric-based evaluations of midterm and final assignments, and expert validity reviews. Paired t-test results indicated that the overall mean AI literacy score increased significantly from 2.43 to 4.18 (p < .001), with application competence showing the greatest improvement, rising from 2.10 to 4.25. Moreover, beauty design evaluation criteria—including prompt specificity, use of major-specific terminology, and formative completeness—showed overall improvement from the midterm to the final assessment, confirming enhanced major-based digital creative competence. These findings empirically demonstrate the effectiveness of generative AI education for adult learners in beauty-related majors and provide foundational evidence for the development of customized AI literacy and beauty design education models tailored to adult learners.