There has been enourmous interest in the idea of community of practice in many different fields. CoP is associated with the work of Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger. Key ideas in the theory are legitimate peripheral participation (the idea that we enter a community bit by bit) and situated learning (the idea that participation is learning). This is a talk given by Jean Lave about apprenticeship and learning and brings in some of her key ideas and how she stumbled on the idea of learning as participation in research tailors in Liberia . You might want to reflect on inductive methodology; the distinction between formal and informal learning and the views she has on learning and context.

'We learn from the end' - what implications does this have for you in respect to learning social theory?