The learning environment is more than just the physical surroundings in which learning takes place, such as the training room or a designated area of the workplace. It also includes the personal relationships between the people involved in the learning process. And in the case of web-based learning, it includes the 'virtual' world created by the users and their trainer.

Because different people have different personalities, and come along to the training session with their own prior experiences and attitudes, they are not all going to respond to the learning environment in the same way.

For example, a worker who is used to being physically active all day might find a sit-down classroom session hard to cope with, especially if they don't normally do a lot of reading and writing, or thinking about the 'theory' of what their job involves.

A mixed group of employees from different levels in a particular workplace can also be unsettling for some people.

When workers and supervisors are together in the same group, there can sometimes be a bit of tension between them, making individuals less inclined to speak freely about how they really feel about a particular issue.

This can also happen between learners at the same level of employment if there is some sort of workplace disagreement or problem going on.

As the trainer, you have to think about the issues you're likely to face in a particular training session well before you run it, so you can take steps to make the learning environment as comfortable as possible for the participants.

Obviously there will be limits to what you can do in terms of where the training is carried out and who attends each session. But your ultimate goal is to give the learners a physical environment and a general mood and atmosphere that brings out the best in each of them, and optimises their ability to learn.