Because shared knowledge underlies this activity, learning is the means by which people gain membership, and participate in community activity. Learning is an act of partcipation. Learning is not just the activity of a sole individual, but the primary vehicle for engagement with others. It is what enables people to enter and participate in new communities of practice. Knowing depends on engagement in practice.
People glean knowledge from observations of, and participation in, myriad situations and activities.
Engagement is inseparable from empowerment. Meaningful participation in a community involves the power to affect the life of that community. Learning requires access and opportunity. People have difficulty learning when they are only accorded marginal or tentative membership. People are natural lifelong learners.