The problem of institutions
and institutional leaders addressing safety issues on campus and providing
solutions to improve safety on campus is grounded in the Communities of
Practice (CoP) theory. This theory was
originally developed by Etienne Wenger and Jean Lave in 1991 and was primarily used
to study individuals who not only share similar interest in a particular
subject, but also interact regarding that subject by sharing ideas to further
develop, improve, and create better solutions (Learning Theories, 2014).
I feel this theory is
appropriate because it recognizes the three necessities to be considered a CoP:
1. –Domain (or a shared interest)
which in this instance is the institutional leaders who share a common bond of
wanting stakeholders to be safe while on campus; 2. –Community (members of the domain share information amongst one
another) which in this instance is the various institutional leaders and campus
security of various campuses sharing their plan of how they address safety
issues on campus; and 3. –Practice (sharing
helpful tools), which encompasses the domain and community to interact and share
information for problem solving (Learning Theories, 2014).
References:
Learning Theories. 2014. Communities of Practice
(Lave and Wenger). Retrieved from: https://www.learning-theories.com/communities-of-practice-lave-and-wenger.html
