Reflective Practices and Adult Learning Principles

1.0 Authors Claim
The passage dwells on the ‘Principles of Learning’ in developing reflective practices to educate adult learners and discusses the framework which distinguishes an adult from a juvenile learner.
According to the authors (K. Roglio and G. Light), it is essential for any educator to let the learner’s embed their experience into their learning process at an executive level or in higher education. Thus, claiming that it is imperative for any educator to incorporate the learner’s beliefs and theories into once learning. Also, provide the learners with the opportunity to understand the relation between their decisions and its effect on the society as a whole. Thereby, acting as a catalyst to learn, reframe and remodel their experience and help in reformulating their common operational assumptions. Learners should also have the practical knowledge, responsibility and the readiness and motivation to learn in order to extract maximum potential from the executive program.
Hence, the process of experiential learning, development of reflective practices and the process of adult learning have illustrated the need to develop ‘Executive education’ programs.

2.0 Supportive Evidence
The authors cite various academic references to support their claim.
“... the process whereby knowledge is created through the transformation of experience.” (Kolb, 1984)
Kolb referred to knowledge as a transformation of experience and the necessity for higher educators to combine work and study, theory and practice to provide productive arena for learning.
“... learners can begin to realize the possibility of reframing experience through reformulating taken for granted operating assumptions” (Raelin and Coghlan, 2006:4) Raelin and Coghlan state that by combining reflective opportunity with work experience, one can generate practical learning and knowledge for action.
“.... we become adults when we arrive at a self-concept of being responsible for own lives, of being self directing” (Knowles, Holton III and Swanson, 2005)
Knowles, Holton III and Swanson differentiates an adult learner with a conceptual framework, based on self-concepts, having a need to know, life as a resource for learning, knowledge application, readiness and motivation to learn.
3.0 Views on Authors Claim
I concur with most of the claims made by the authors with regards to this passage. I do have some contentious questions which lingers in my mind. How effective will ‘Executive programs’ be in a heterogeneous group? Considering, most education programs as a group activity rather than an individual mentoring session. The question shows relevance while the authors consider adult learners based on the conceptual framework, under the six basic premises laid out by Knowles, Holton III and Swanson.
“Executive education programs are particularly well served by adult-learners principles....” (K. Roglio and G. Light)
In a group, will every individual fit the bill of an adult, based on the six basic premises? If not, how effective will the Executive program be? This was one question which I felt was not address by the authors. A sample study, giving statistical evidence would have also helped to illustrate the effectiveness of the program.