Brains working towards machine consciousness

We all live within an environment.  Part of that is obviously our physical environment, but the bit I am writing about is our learning environment.  Looking at what each of us, as an individual, uses to support our learning gives rise to the concept of a Personal Learning Environment, or PLE.  The term PLE, however, is typically used with regard to the technological toolset an individual uses, rather than the sum of all factors in the learner's environment.