Before you build the course, find the real problem: how Qibu Ri designs learning that works

A course can be engaging, interactive, and beautifully designed, and still fail to solve the problem it was created for.

For freelance instructional designer and eLearning developer Qibu Ri, effective learning design starts with two questions: What do learners actually need to do differently, and what’s getting in the way?

Qibu works on workplace training, language learning, and customer education projects, often taking them from needs analysis and content structuring through instructional design, development, and evaluation.

Her approach earned her the iSpring Team Choice Award in the 2026 iSpring Course Creation Contest: Shine On, Creator!

Her process starts with the problem.

“Effective instructional design starts with understanding what learners actually need to do differently.”

Qibu Ri,
Instructional designer, Freelancer

It can be tempting to start a learning project by thinking about the course itself: What should the modules look like? Which activities should be included? How can we make the experience more engaging?

Qibu starts earlier.

“It is easy to focus on creating an engaging course, but effective instructional design starts with understanding what learners actually need to do differently after the training.”

Qibu’s first task is to identify what is actually causing the problem. Sometimes the answer is obvious. Other times, the real obstacle is harder to spot.

A wrong diagnosis can send the rest of the project in the wrong direction, from the learning objectives to the curriculum itself. 

“If misjudgments are made in the early stages, the subsequent setting of learning objectives and the direction of curriculum development will be distorted or even render such efforts ineffective.”

Qibu doesn’t see root-cause analysis as a challenge. To her, finding the core of the problem is simply one of the most important parts of instructional design.

“Buy-in starts from the needs of the people who will actually use the learning.”

She builds buy-in by tying the learning to problems people already face at work or in everyday life.

The interest and motivation often come from when people feel that they can handle more difficult problems in their real life.

That’s why Qibu uses scenarios, examples, and activities that reflect situations learners actually face.

When learners recognize their own challenges in a course, the learning stops feeling abstract.

When people can see the relevance of the training to their day-to-day work/life challenges, they are much more likely to engage with it.

For Qibu, learner buy-in isn’t something to add after the course is built. It starts with designing something learners can see themselves using.

“Maintaining a ‘sustained positive momentum’ is somewhat idealistic.”

Qibu is realistic about the limits of learner engagement.

Even when people want to learn or are required to complete training, other demands can quickly get in the way.

When people are overwhelmed with tasks, they may lose interest in anything new—even if they want to complete it or are required to do so.

Qibu does not expect engagement to stay high on its own. Instead, she looks for ways to design around how attention and memory actually work.

She points to ideas discussed by speakers at iSpring Days APAC 2026, including spaced learning and approaches based on the reticular activating system (RAS) to support attention and retention.

She also uses feedback to see where the learning is working and where it needs adjustment.

Reviewing learner responses, stakeholder feedback, and assessment results helps identify what is working and what needs to be improved.

For Qibu, momentum is less about keeping enthusiasm permanently high and more about paying attention to what learners are telling you and continuously improving the experience.

Most of the design happens before the course is built

From the outside, instructional design can look like a job that starts when the authoring tool opens.

Qibu sees a much larger process behind the final course.

A significant amount of time can go into understanding the audience, analyzing existing content, identifying learning gaps, structuring information, writing objectives, developing scenarios, creating storyboards, and reviewing content with subject-matter experts.

Only then does development in the authoring tool begin.

The actual development in tools such as Articulate Storyline or Rise is only one part of the process.

Much of the design comes down to decisions: what belongs in the course, what should be left out, how information should be sequenced, and where learners need opportunities to practice.

In other words, the authoring tool may be where a course takes shape visually, but instructional design happens long before the first screen is built.

“When I encounter obstacles, I first try to understand where the obstacle comes from.”

When a learning project hits a roadblock, Qibu doesn’t immediately look for a workaround.

She first asks what is causing it.

“Once the root cause is clear, it becomes easier to tackle it.”

The obstacle might be limited resources, conflicting stakeholder expectations, or a misunderstanding of the problem itself. That last possibility is especially important.

If the underlying issue is not actually a training problem, adding more training will not solve it.

“AI is most valuable when it complements instructional design expertise.”

Qibu uses AI to support her work, not replace her judgment as a designer.

She uses it for tasks such as brainstorming, generating alternative scenarios, and reviewing or refining wording.

I see AI primarily as a support tool rather than a replacement for an instructional designer.

But she also sees an opportunity that goes beyond saving time.

AI is a powerful tool that can help compensate for some of our technical limitations and enable us to accomplish tasks that may previously have seemed beyond our capabilities.

Qibu still checks AI-generated content for accuracy, relevance, quality, and alignment with the learning objectives.

The tool can expand what a designer can create. The designer still decides whether it should be created at all.

For learning professionals thinking through similar questions about AI, iSpring Learning Exchange offers a place to hear how others are approaching the technology and discuss its role in learning.

Building a toolkit without trying every tool

The learning technology landscape changes quickly, with new tools constantly appearing and existing ones evolving.

For an instructional designer, keeping up with all of them can become a job in itself.

Qibu takes a more selective approach.

I tend to filter tools based on the scope of my work and create my own specific toolkit and workflow.

Rather than trying to keep up with every new tool, she chooses them based on what her projects actually require.

That keeps her from spending time rebuilding basic elements or learning tools she may rarely use.

This allows me to spend less time recreating basic elements and more time thinking about the instructional problem.

Her toolkit serves the work, not the other way around.

“Change is, in fact, the norm of the world.”

Qibu came into instructional design somewhat unexpectedly. Since then, she has learned to treat change as part of the work rather than something to prepare for and eventually get past.

She captures that idea with an unusual metaphor:

Just like a small person walking to the right on the back of a giant elephant that is actually moving left, you cannot prevent it from moving in the direction it has chosen.

Qibu’s point is that some changes are simply bigger than any one person can control.

What they can control, she believes, is how they respond: bringing their own judgment to the work while staying open to change.

When there isn’t much we can do, it’s important to stay true to ourselves, bring our own understanding to things, and embrace change positively.

Find the problem before you build the solution

Qibu’s approach comes back to one fundamental question: What actually needs to change?

Before choosing a tool, adding an interaction, or building a module, she asks what learners are struggling with, what is causing the problem, and whether training can actually solve it.

Her iSpring Team Choice Award in the 2026 iSpring Course Creation Contest: Shine On, Creator! recognizes a learning-design philosophy built around that kind of intentionality.

Sometimes the most important work in instructional design happens before the course is built.

It starts with figuring out what problem the course needs to solve in the first place.