Thought Chief Q&A: Raneem Mourad From Kashida

What Does 2026 Have In Retailer For The eLearning Business?

With over a decade of expertise in advertising and promoting, Raneem Mourad transitioned to the EdTech sector in 2013 and have become the Managing Associate at Kashida in 2016. Kashida designs and produces bespoke, impactful eLearning content material throughout platforms to fulfill the distinctive wants of its shoppers. Because the Associate & Director of Development at Kashida, Raneem leads a workforce of proficient designers, builders, and Studying Expertise Designers, in addition to oversees the enterprise improvement, market analysis, and shopper relations elements of the corporate. Immediately, she speaks with us about what 2026 will carry for EdTech and eLearning based mostly on her work with international organizations and customized studying design expertise.

This previous yr has introduced its justifiable share of improvements within the eLearning discipline. What ought to L&D leaders be enthusiastic about in 2026?

A lot to be enthusiastic about. However what I believe L&D leaders ought to be most enthusiastic about is the truth that we now have extra flexibility than ever in how studying is designed and delivered. The query is now not what know-how we must always use, however relatively what sort of expertise do learners really need? That shift in mindset opens the door to much more significant, context-aware studying—whether or not by way of digital packages, blended codecs, or extra immersive experiences.

What excites me most about 2026 is not a single know-how or development; it is the rising maturity of the eLearning discipline itself. We’re lastly transferring away from chasing instruments for their very own sake and towards extra considerate conversations about function, affect, and relevance.

I am additionally seeing a a lot stronger give attention to adaptability. Organizations are more and more conscious that studying cannot be static anymore. It must evolve alongside individuals, roles, and priorities. In our work, this has meant designing studying experiences that may develop over time, relatively than being locked right into a single format or platform.

Total, 2026 appears like a second the place L&D can additional embrace its strategic function: much less about content material manufacturing, and extra about enabling actual functionality constructing.

Primarily based in your years of expertise in customized studying improvement, how do you assume know-how, design, and technique are evolving?

Probably the most vital modifications I’ve noticed is that know-how, design, and technique are now not being handled as separate conversations. The best studying initiatives right now are those the place these three parts are deliberately aligned from the beginning.

Design, specifically, has taken on a way more strategic function. Studying expertise design is not nearly structuring content material or including interactivity—it is about understanding learners, organizational realities, and desired behaviors, after which making deliberate selections about how know-how can assist these objectives.

In most of the tasks we work on, know-how choices come after deep design conversations. That sequencing issues. It permits know-how to behave as an enabler relatively than a constraint. As instruments proceed to evolve, this strategy additionally offers organizations extra resilience—they don’t seem to be tied to a single resolution, however to a transparent design logic that may adapt over time.

In the end, this evolution reveals that sturdy studying outcomes do not come from innovation alone. They arrive from considerate integration—when technique units route, design offers construction, and know-how helps execution.

How can organizations put together for a quickly shifting digital studying panorama? Why is it so crucial for them to give attention to human-centered design?

The best way I see it, one of the best ways organizations can put together for change is by grounding their studying efforts in a deep understanding of individuals. Applied sciences will proceed to shift, however learners—their motivations, pressures, and constraints—stay crucial fixed.

Human-centered design helps organizations construct studying that is resilient. When experiences are designed round how individuals really work and be taught, they’ll evolve with out dropping relevance. I’ve seen many organizations make investments closely in platforms, solely to understand later that the educational would not translate into actual habits change. That often occurs when design choices aren’t rooted in learner realities.

A human-centered strategy forces vital questions early on: What downside are we fixing? What does success appear like for learners? What limitations would possibly they face? These questions form every little thing that follows, together with how know-how is used.

Making ready for a shifting panorama is not about predicting the longer term completely. It is about creating studying ecosystems which might be versatile, empathetic, and aligned with actual organizational objectives. Once you design from the human perspective, adapting to no matter comes subsequent turns into far more manageable.

Are you able to inform us a bit extra about Kashida’s design methodology and the way it helps you (and your shoppers) navigate the shifts in know-how?

We made a strategic determination over ten years in the past that our design methodology would at all times begin with individuals, not platforms. Each challenge begins by understanding learners, context, and the sort of change the educational is supposed to assist. Solely then can we make choices about codecs, instruments, or applied sciences.

It hasn’t at all times been straightforward to persuade shoppers to start out with a design technique first. Many initially need to know what the ultimate output will appear like earlier than committing. However as soon as they undergo our LXD course of and expertise it firsthand, belief builds—as a result of the outcomes are extra significant, related, and impactful for each learners and the group.

This human-centered, tech-agnostic strategy permits us and our shoppers to navigate technological shifts with confidence. For instance, in packages like NetHope’s Girls Leaders initiative, the place learners come from extremely various cultural {and professional} contexts, beginning with design technique allowed the educational expertise to stay coherent and related at the same time as supply codecs developed.

Throughout very several types of tasks, we have seen how this technique creates continuity, even when know-how modifications midstream. As a result of the design logic is evident, new instruments could be built-in thoughtfully relatively than disruptively. That is what finally makes studying really feel future-ready.

What function do you consider AI performs in the way forward for customized studying design, and the place do you assume the AI-human collaboration is heading?

There are lots of methods we’re already seeing AI play a task in customized studying. From a design perspective, I see AI as a robust assist—not a alternative. Its actual worth lies in the way it enhances human experience, significantly by bettering effectivity and opening up new prospects for personalization and scale.

We’re already utilizing AI to streamline elements of the event course of, giving our studying designers more room to give attention to what actually requires human judgment: understanding context, navigating complexity, and designing experiences that drive significant change. For us, AI elevates the function of the educational designer relatively than diminishing it.

AI has additionally develop into a robust device in manufacturing. It permits us to develop pilots rapidly—testing concepts, visuals, or narrative instructions early—so shoppers can align on technique by way of tangible examples in a extra cost- and time-efficient means. This has been particularly useful in tasks coping with complicated or delicate subjects, resembling our work on digital monetary literacy, the place iteration and readability are crucial.

Wanting forward, I see AI-human collaboration transferring towards a extra intentional partnership. We outline the objectives, values, and moral boundaries; AI helps exploration, adaptation, and responsiveness. The chance, in fact, is utilizing AI and not using a sturdy design basis. With out that, it could possibly stay superficial—or, worse, introduce cultural or contextual inaccuracies.

When grounded in human-centered design and clear studying goals, AI turns into a device that genuinely expands what’s potential, whereas protecting individuals firmly on the heart of the educational expertise.

Wrapping Up

Thanks a lot to Raneem for sharing her insights on human-first studying design and navigating L&D challenges. If you would like to discover how Kashida can assist your 2026 studying technique, you’ll be able to get in contact right now to guide your 30-minute free session and focus on your particular wants.