11/11/2025
Short summary: Ostfalia Co-Organizes AI eLearning Conference in Beijing
Prof. Markus Launer from Ostfalia University participated in several research and teaching conferences in China, including the Asian Association of Open Universities (AAOU) in Beijing and a joint AI and E-Learning Conference with the Beijing Open University. His research focuses on how artificial intelligence is transforming learning, decision-making, and academic work worldwide.
Launer presented results from his global RIDMS study (Rational and Unconscious Intuitive Decision-Making Skills), revealing that while students improve in knowledge-based decisions, they lack growth in analytical, spontaneous, and experience-based decision-making. He called for new learning formats, coaching, and AI-supported decision-training to strengthen these skills.
At the conferences, experts from China, Ukraine, Poland, Turkey, and the Philippines discussed how AI, adaptive learning systems, and virtual reality are reshaping education. China, a global leader in online and AI-based learning, now focuses on improving quality and integrating lifelong learning into its system.
Launer emphasized that AI enables personalized, self-directed learning through microlearning, intelligent tutoring systems, and continuous feedback — making education more flexible and accessible. However, this also challenges traditional teaching roles, requiring universities to rethink how they teach and evaluate academic work.
His conclusion: The digital transformation of education is irreversible. Success will depend on integrating human coaching, AI-driven tools, and global cooperation to create a new, more adaptive learning culture.
Full article: UEN Column No. 7
Ostfalia Co-Organizes AI eLearning Conference in Beijing, China
Learning and academic work are undergoing a complete transformation. While students once had to laboriously write term papers themselves, today ChatGPT helps them do it. The student-friendly working concept developed by Prof. Markus Launer, which he successfully taught for 15 years at Ostfalia University of Applied Sciences in Suderburg, is now history. His concept of “the right work steps at the right time” has been replaced by artificial intelligence (AI). It is time to face these new technologies and develop new teaching concepts. The current trends in this area are coming from the USA and China.
China is the country of online learning. According to a British Council report, in 2020 more than 8.5 million students in China were studying online in distance-learning programs. The Beijing Open University alone had up to 60,000 students enrolled online. Currently, enrollment numbers are being reduced while the quality of teaching is being improved. China also has the most modern and digitally integrated cities in the world, especially Shenzhen and Hangzhou — home to the headquarters of WeChat, Huawei, Alipay, and Alibaba. The newest technologies are being developed there — including those for online education. The future, therefore, is not only being created in California, but also in southern China. But what can Uelzen contribute to this?
Asian Association of Open Universities in Beijing, China
During his research semester, Launer traveled from Suderburg to China to explore e-learning in greater depth and to present and discuss his latest findings. His first stop was the AAOU Conference of the Asian Association of Open Universities in Beijing — the largest conference in Asia on long-distance e-learning.
In Asia, “Open University” means something akin to “Online University,” a term that arose somewhat by misunderstanding. E-learning is very popular in China due to vast distances, heavy traffic, and the demand for part-time study programs. In the Philippines, e-learning is essential due to the many small islands that make travel difficult. Unlike in Germany, lifelong learning is taken much more seriously in these countries. Universities have programs designed to accompany people into retirement — a necessity, as people in future working lives will likely change professions several times.
Launer presented catastrophic findings from his global study on how universities train students in decision-making abilities. The study revealed that students improve only in generating knowledge-based decisions — primarily through memorization. They also become emotionally more mature, enabling better intuitive decision-making. However, according to his study of 900 students, skills such as analytics, planning, spontaneity, anticipation, subconscious thinking, and experience-based decision-making did not improve.
This research was conducted together with Prof. Fatih Çetin (Turkey), Prof. Dave Marcial (Philippines), Bo Aquila Yang (China), and Prof. Daria Suprun (Ukraine) as part of Launer’s ongoing global study on Rational and Unconsciously Intuitive Decision-Making Skills (RIDMS). He called for new teaching content and training to improve students’ decision-making — and, above all, more coaching. His presentation was met with great interest and approval in Beijing.
At the AAOU Conference, Launer also met Prof. Joane Serrano of the University of the Philippines Open University (UPOU). She had visited Suderburg with Prof. Bo Aquila Yang in 2019 and fondly recalled the asparagus season and visits with Anneliese Müller. Joane is now the president of UPOU in Los Baños. She remembered Launer’s keynote speech in 2019 on Bohol Island at the Philippine E-Learning Society, organized by Prof. Dave Marcial (Silliman University). His talk about disruptions in online teaching had shocked many researchers and educators at the time. Today — post-pandemic and with AI — the contents of that talk have become reality.
Joint AI Conference with Beijing Open University
Together with Prof. Bo Aquila Yang, Launer organized a joint conference between Ostfalia University and Beijing Open University (BJOU) on e-learning and artificial intelligence. Selected professors from Poland, Ukraine, Japan, and China were invited.
Launer presented new developments in AI and introduced new decision-making categories for studies in India, Thailand, China, Korea, and Southeast Asia — together representing nearly half of the world’s population. The newly developed measurement instrument RIDMS, created with Dr. Frithiof Svenson and Prof. Fatih Çetin (Turkey), is innovative and comprehensive. However, decision-making in Asia involves dimensions far less significant in the West: harmony, obedience to superiors, Vedic and Confucian principles, or even Feng Shui. This world is difficult for Westerners — lateral thinkers and individualists — to fully comprehend.
Future research will explore to what extent traditional Eastern decision-making patterns persist, and how such skills could be trained online using AI. Launer discussed his concepts in China’s most advanced cities — Shanghai, Hangzhou, and Shenzhen. Experts such as Prof. Marcus Anthony, Dr. Li Quan, and teacher Alice Li validated his concept and guided him to both ancient temples and China’s most modern AI centers — a contrast as striking as possible. Like Taiwan and South Korea, China has transformed from an agricultural nation into a high-tech powerhouse in an astonishingly short time.
Prof. Daria Suprun from Ukraine presented joint findings at the BJOU conference on student e-learning, focusing on decision-making based on artificial intelligence and how online teaching can be improved. E-learning is a major topic in Ukraine, where displacement and war often force classes to be abandoned due to flight or air-raid alarms. This research, too, is part of the RIDMS study by Ostfalia, which was specially translated into Ukrainian.
Prof. Marzena Ganc from Warsaw presented a joint study with Ostfalia on learning with AI. The study found that AI is changing how students learn and write academic papers — and how these are graded. Even average or weak students can now produce high-quality work.
Prof. Marcus Anthony, an Australian living in China, confirmed these findings with his own future studies. He described the social transformations that AI-based learning will bring — seeing both great opportunities and risks. Yet, as he noted, humanity has always feared the future and change: over a century ago, doctors warned that train rides would harm the eyes and stomach; from 1811 to 1816, the “Luddite” movement destroyed weaving machines in England out of fear of mass unemployment. Ironically, “web machines” could indeed eliminate jobs today.
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How Is AI Changing Online Learning?
So what are these conferences really about? What will students, teachers, and professors face in the near future? According to Bill Gates, teaching belongs to a **dying profession**. Even during the pandemic, Launer warned that strong students had learned better independently using innovative e-learning tools at home. They used the time to learn languages or explore new fields of knowledge.
With the AI revolution, this self-directed learning has become far more powerful. Learners can now study autonomously with ChatGPT and new AI apps. Content is available asynchronously, anytime, in well-structured micro-learning units. Every question is answered — and those who ask better questions reach higher levels of understanding. AI also provides feedback on learning progress and knowledge gaps. Teachers working within rigid lesson plans cannot easily match these capabilities.
The teaching profession is at a turning point. A few years ago, Headmaster Stefan Nowatschin and Launer wanted to introduce modern online teaching concepts at the Vocational Schools I in Uelzen. The teachers protested strongly. Today, students bypass their teachers, learning more effectively at home — or even fact-checking their teachers live on their smartphones in class.
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Conclusion
What is the result of such a journey — with conferences, research talks, interviews, and company visits? Academic papers. The findings will be published in research journals. Yet Launer also wants to teach more online and use modern digital formats. This idea is very popular among students, but less so among colleagues. Ultimately, a university remains a kind of bureaucracy following rigid rules — or at least it did. Perhaps Ostfalia, under its new president, will now become more modern. Intelligent AI-based teaching concepts already exist, and the debate is gaining momentum.
Background Information for Interested Readers
Artificial Intelligence (AI) & Adaptive Learning Systems
Innovative teaching concepts increasingly use AI and adaptive learning systems to personalize learning processes. These systems analyze learner behavior — errors, pace, and strategies — and automatically adjust the learning path. Adaptive platforms ensure students receive exactly the content suited to their current level. Automated assessments and chatbot tutors provide immediate feedback. AI-generated exercises, simulations, and materials save educators time, allowing them to focus on mentoring.
Companies like Area9 Lyceum and Realizeit develop platforms that analyze learners’ pace and prior knowledge to generate personalized learning paths. Earlier pioneers like Knewton laid the groundwork for data-driven, adaptive learning. Tools such as Mindsmith or CYPHER Learning automate course creation and evaluation, while SweetRush integrates these technologies into immersive learning environments.
Learning Analytics & Data-Driven Learning
Learning analytics — the systematic analysis of student data — has become key to quality assurance in digital education. It enables early detection of learning gaps, personalized interventions, and improved retention rates.
Companies like Magic EdTech (India) use diagnostic, predictive, and prescriptive analytics through its MagicQuant framework. U.S. firms such as Education Analytics, Designing Digitally, Civitas Learning, and Bright Bytes offer dashboards and analytic tools that visualize learning progress and guide strategic educational decisions.
Immersive Technologies: Virtual Reality (VR) & Augmented Reality (AR)
VR and AR open new dimensions for online education — offering experiential learning through virtual labs, simulations, and field trips. These immersive environments increase engagement and motivation, especially in distance education.
Leading companies include Squirrel AI (China) for adaptive learning, zSpace for virtual labs, EON Reality for combined AI-XR platforms, ClassVR for ready-to-use school VR kits, and 3 Circles VR for corporate training.
& Mobile Learning
Microlearning delivers short, focused lessons (5–15 minutes) that fit mobile lifestyles. Learners can study anytime, anywhere — ideal for flexible and lifelong learning.
Innovators include Arist (U.S.) offering SMS- and Slack-based courses, 5Mins.ai (UK) for app-based learning bites, Axonify for workplace learning, TalentCards for flashcard-based microlearning, eduMe for remote teams, CommLab India for custom microlearning, and Whatfix for in-app tutorials.
Together, these technologies represent a new learning culture that values flexibility, accessibility, and personalized knowledge growth — freeing educators to focus on guidance, reflection, and human connection.
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UEN-Kolumne mit Professor Markus Launer - Ostfalia co-organisiert KI-eLearning Konferenz in Peking
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