“You don’t have to include everything”: How Georgiana Plesoianu designs learning that people actually use

When you talk to Georgiana Plesoianu, one thing quickly becomes clear: she doesn’t judge the quality of instructional design by how much content makes it into a course.

As an instructional designer at Allyis, supporting Microsoft learning programs, Georgiana works at the intersection of learning design, content development, AI, accessibility, and learner experience. She also works as a freelance instructional designer and language trainer and runs her own project, geoisteaching.com.

Her approach is simple but not always easy: start with what learners need to do, not everything stakeholders want them to know.

That mindset helped Georgiana earn a win in the iSpring Course Creation Contest 2026. We spoke with her about the realities of instructional design, getting stakeholders on board, using AI without losing the human element, and how iSpring helps her focus on learning instead of technology.

“What’s the most important thing someone needs to be able to do after this training?”

Georgiana Plesoianu,

Instructional Designer, Allyis

For Georgiana, one of the hardest parts of instructional design happens before a course is ever built.

Stakeholders often care deeply about their subject matter and understandably want to share all their knowledge with learners. But more content doesn’t necessarily mean better learning.

“I’d say the biggest challenge is helping people separate what they want learners to know from what learners actually need to know.”

Her solution is to bring the conversation back to the desired outcome:

“What’s the most important thing someone needs to be able to do after this training?”

That question helps turn a content-heavy request into a learning experience with a clear purpose.

And sometimes, those conversations can be difficult. But Georgiana sees that as part of the value an instructional designer brings to the table.

“Sometimes those conversations can be tough, but that’s where the real value of instructional design comes in.”

“You don’t have to include everything.”

Georgiana wishes she could’ve told this to her younger self.

Early in her career, she felt responsible for capturing every detail and every piece of available content. With experience, she learned that effective instructional design often means doing the opposite.

Over time, I realized that good instructional design is often about simplifying, prioritizing, and knowing what to leave out.

That shift changed how she approaches course development.

The goal isn’t to build the most comprehensive course. It’s to create something learners can actually use.

For Georgiana, this distinction is at the heart of good learning design: a course should be useful, not merely complete.

“Building the course is often the easiest part.”

There’s a common misconception about instructional designers: that they spend most of their time building courses.

Georgiana’s day-to-day reality looks very different.

A significant part of her work involves talking to people, asking questions, gathering requirements, reviewing feedback, managing expectations, and figuring out what problem the learning experience is actually supposed to solve.

Most people think instructional designers spend all day building courses.

She explains:

Honestly, building the course is often the easiest part. Defining the right solution can take much longer.

That means instructional design is as much about needs analysis and communication as it is about authoring.

And that’s why Georgiana tries to get stakeholders involved early rather than presenting them with a finished solution.

“People are much more likely to support something if they feel included.”

For Georgiana, building buy-in starts early in the design process.

Instead of designing in isolation and asking stakeholders to approve the final product, she involves them throughout the process, gathers feedback, and takes the time to understand their concerns.

It helps build trust and usually leads to a better result.

She also believes that resistance is worth listening to.

People may push back on training because they’re busy, overwhelmed, or unsure how it connects to their priorities. Focusing only on eliminating that resistance can leave the underlying issue unresolved.

People aren’t necessarily pushing back because they dislike learning. They’re often busy, overwhelmed, or unsure how training connects to their priorities.

So Georgiana listens first and looks for practical solutions. For her, relationships and demonstrating value work better than forcing adoption.

“Momentum usually comes from those early positive experiences.”

Launching a learning program is one thing. Keeping people engaged with it is another.

Georgiana focuses on small wins.

A successful launch can create awareness, but a colleague saying, “That training actually helped,” can create something more powerful: credibility through experience.

If someone tells me, ‘That training actually helped,’ that’s often more powerful than any announcement campaign.

She also makes sure feedback leads to action.

Gathering feedback is more useful when learners and stakeholders can see what happens next. When people see their input turning into visible improvements, they become more invested in the program.

That creates a cycle: feedback → improvement → trust → engagement → further feedback.

For Georgiana, momentum isn’t something you manufacture with a single campaign. It grows when people experience the value of learning for themselves.

“AI helps me spend less time on repetitive tasks.”

AI has become a practical part of Georgiana’s workflow.

She uses it for brainstorming, drafting content, creating scenarios, refining communications, and analyzing feedback. Particularly in the early stages of design, these capabilities help her move faster.

That said, I don’t see AI replacing instructional designers.

The reason is straightforward: effective learning design still requires human judgment, empathy, and an understanding of the audience.

For Georgiana, AI works best when it reduces repetitive work and creates more room for the work humans are uniquely positioned to do.

AI helps me spend less time on repetitive tasks and more time on strategic thinking.

That philosophy fits naturally with the way she approaches instructional design overall: automate what can be automated, and focus human effort where it creates the most value.

“I’ve stopped trying to do everything manually.”

The same principle applies to avoiding burnout.

Georgiana has learned to look for opportunities to automate repetitive work, create reusable templates, and use AI for administrative tasks.

But there’s another change that has made a difference: letting go of the idea that everything needs to be perfect.

Sometimes a solution that’s useful and delivered on time creates more impact than one that’s been refined endlessly.

It’s a practical lesson for anyone working in learning and development. When every project is treated as an opportunity to achieve perfection, the workload can quickly become unsustainable.

For Georgiana, a useful solution delivered on time often beats one that’s endlessly refined.

“iSpring lets me focus on learning design rather than troubleshooting technology.”

This is where her approach to efficiency connects directly with iSpring.

Georgiana appreciates that iSpring removes technical friction from course development.

Coming from a PowerPoint background, she finds the interface familiar, which makes it easier to turn an idea into a working course without spending unnecessary time figuring out the authoring tool.

One thing I appreciate about iSpring is that it lets me focus on learning design rather than troubleshooting technology.

The time savings don’t stop at course creation.

Georgiana says the biggest difference compared with her previous solutions is how quickly she can build, publish, and update content. Review cycles are also easier because changes can be made without rebuilding large sections of a course.

She hasn’t measured the exact number of hours saved, but the cumulative effect across multiple projects has been significant.

That matters for an instructional designer whose priority isn’t simply producing more courses. It’s having enough time to make the courses better and more useful.

“The LMS gives us real data to support conversations.”

For Georgiana, an LMS provides something that’s difficult to achieve otherwise: visibility into learner participation and performance.

With iSpring LMS, her team can look at completion rates, engagement levels, assessment results, and participation trends rather than relying entirely on anecdotal feedback.

That data helps demonstrate impact, identify gaps, and inform future learning initiatives.

But metrics aren’t the only measure of success. Georgiana also looks at how learning helps people in their work:

For me, the biggest success isn’t a completion rate or a dashboard metric.

It’s hearing that someone actually used what they learned.

When someone tells me a scenario that felt relevant, a resource helped them solve a problem, or they changed the way they approach their work because of the training, that’s when I feel we’ve succeeded.

Data can show what happened. Learners’ experiences show why it matters.

What Georgiana values most about iSpring LMS

When we asked Georgiana what she values most about iSpring LMS, she highlighted three things.

1. Ease of use

For Georgiana, usability directly affects adoption.

A platform can have endless capabilities, but if people struggle to use it, adoption becomes a challenge.

She values iSpring LMS because it’s intuitive for both administrators and learners, making it easier to manage and access training.

2. Reporting and analytics

Reporting gives her the information she needs to understand what’s working and where learners may need additional support.

It also provides evidence for conversations with management — making it easier to move from assumptions to data-informed decisions.

3. Integration with iSpring Suite

The integration between iSpring Suite and iSpring LMS also saves time.

Being able to publish courses directly from iSpring Suite to iSpring LMS simplifies the workflow and makes it easier to deliver training to learners.

For Georgiana, that integration supports the same principle that runs through her entire approach: remove unnecessary friction so you can focus on what matters.

Including less. Thinking more.

Georgiana’s approach to instructional design has evolved from trying to capture everything to asking what truly deserves a learner’s attention.

She listens to stakeholders without losing sight of learners. She uses data without reducing learning to metrics. She uses AI without giving up human judgment. And she uses technology to remove friction rather than make the process more complicated.

As an active member of the iSpring Learning Exchange Community, she also has a space to share expertise and real-world insights with instructional designers from more than 100 countries, bringing perspectives from a global community into her own practice.

Her advice to her younger self now sounds less like a lesson about course creation and more like a philosophy of instructional design:

You don’t have to include everything.

Sometimes, the best learning experience isn’t the one with the most content.

It’s the one that solves the right problem, respects the learner’s time, and gives them something they can actually use.

If you want to spend less time troubleshooting technology and more time designing meaningful learning experiences, explore iSpring Suite or see how iSpring LMS can help you manage learning at scale.