Nigerian Students Turn to aI For Tests Answers, Lecturers Raise Alarm
Expert System (AI) is revolutionizing education while making finding out more accessible however also sparking debates on its impact.
While students hail AI tools like ChatGPT for improving their learning experience, speakers are raising concerns about the growing dependence on AI, which they argue fosters laziness and prawattasao.awardspace.info weakens academic integrity, especially with many trainees not able to protect their tasks or provided works.
Prof. Isaac Nwaogwugwu, a lecturer at the University of Lagos, in an interview with Nairametrics, expressed aggravation over the growing dependence on AI-generated reactions among students recounting a current experience he had.
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"I offered a task to my MBA students, and out of over 100 trainees, about 40% submitted the precise same responses. These students did not even know each other, however they all used the exact same AI tool to create their responses," he stated.
He noted that this pattern is widespread among both undergraduate and postgraduate students but is specifically worrying in part-time and range knowing programs.
"AI is a severe challenge when it comes to assignments. Many trainees no longer think critically-they just go online, generate answers, and submit," he included.
Surprisingly, some speakers are also accused of over-relying on AI, setting a cycle where both teachers and trainees turn to AI for benefit rather than intellectual rigor.
This dispute raises important concerns about the function of AI in scholastic stability and student advancement.
According to a UNESCO report, while ChatGPT reached 100 million month-to-month active users in January 2023, only one nation had launched regulations on generative AI since July 2023.
Since December 2024, ChatGPT had more than 300 million people utilizing the AI chatbot weekly and 1 billion messages sent out every day around the globe.
Decline of academic rigor
University lecturers are increasingly worried about trainees submitting AI-generated tasks without truly comprehending the content.
Dr. Felix Echekoba, a speaker at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, garagesale.es expressed his issues to Nairametrics about students increasingly relying on ChatGPT, just to deal with answering fundamental concerns when tested.
"Many students copy from ChatGPT and submit polished projects, however when asked fundamental concerns, they go blank. It's frustrating because education is about learning, not simply passing courses," he said.
- Prof. Nwaogwugwu pointed out that the increasing variety of first-class graduates can not be totally credited to AI but confessed that even high-performing trainees use these tools.
"A superior student is a top-notch trainee, AI or not, but that does not imply they do not cheat. The benefits of AI might be peripheral, but it is making trainees reliant and less analytical," he stated.
- Another speaker, Dr. Ereke, from Ebonyi State University, raised a various issue that some lecturers themselves are guilty of the same practice.
"It's not just students using AI slackly. Some speakers, out of their own laziness, create lesson notes, course lays out, marking plans, and even test questions with AI without evaluating them. Students in turn utilize AI to produce responses. It's a cycle of laziness and it is eliminating real learning," he lamented.
Students' viewpoints on use
Students, on the other hand, state AI has actually enhanced their learning experience by making scholastic products more reasonable and wiki.rrtn.org accessible.
- Eniola Arowosafe, a 300-level Business Administration student at Unilag, shared how AI has actually significantly helped her knowing by breaking down complex terms and providing summaries of lengthy texts.
"AI helped me comprehend things more easily, especially when handling intricate topics," she described.
However, she remembered a circumstances when she utilized AI to send her job, just for her speaker to immediately recognize that it was created by ChatGPT and reject it. Eniola kept in mind that it was a good-bad impact.
- Bryan Okwuba, who just recently graduated with a first-class degree in Pharmacy Technology from the University of Lagos, securely believes that his scholastic success wasn't due to any AI tool. He attributes his outstanding grades to actively appealing by asking concerns and concentrating on areas that lecturers highlight in class, as they are frequently shown in exam questions.
"It's all about existing, taking note, and taking advantage of the wealth of knowledge shared by my associates," he said,
- Tunde Awoshita, a final-year marketing student at UNIZIK, admits to periodically copying directly from ChatGPT when facing several due dates.
"To be truthful, there are times I copy straight from ChatGPT when I have numerous deadlines, and I understand I'm guilty of that, the majority of times the speakers do not get to go through them, however AI has actually also helped me learn faster."
Balancing AI's role in education
Experts believe the option lies in AI literacy; mentor students and lecturers how to utilize AI as a learning help rather than a shortcut.
- Minister of Education, sciencewiki.science Dr. Tunji Alausa, highlighted the integration of AI into Nigeria's education system, stressing the value of a balanced technique that keeps human involvement while harnessing AI to improve discovering results.
"As we browse the rapidly progressing landscape of Artificial Intelligence (AI), it is important that we prioritise human firm in education. We must guarantee that AI improves, instead of replaces, teachers' crucial role in forming young minds," he stated
Concerns over AI in Learning
Dorcas Akintade, a cybersecurity change expert, resolved growing concerns regarding the usage of expert system (AI) tools such as ChatGPT and their possible threats to the instructional system.
- She acknowledged the benefits of AI, users.atw.hu however, highlighted the requirement for caution in its use.
- Akintade highlighted the increasing hesitance among teachers and schools towards integrating AI tools in learning environments. She identified 2 main reasons AI tools are prevented in educational settings: security risks and plagiarism. She described that AI tools like ChatGPT are trained to respond based on user interactions, which may not line up with the expectations of educators.
"It is not taking a look at it as a tutor," Akintade stated, describing that AI doesn't accommodate particular mentor methods.
Plagiarism is another issue, as AI pulls from existing data, frequently without appropriate attribution
"A great deal of individuals need to understand, like I said, this is information that has actually been trained on. It is not simply bringing things out from the sky. It's bringing information that some other people are fed into it, which in essence implies that is another individual's paperwork," she warned.
- Additionally, Akintade highlighted an early problem in AI development referred to as "hallucination," where AI tools would produce information that was not factual.
"Hallucination suggested that it was highlighting information from the air. If ChatGPT could not get that information from you, it was going to make one up," she explained.
She advised "grounding" AI by offering it with particular info to avoid such errors.
Navigating AI in Education
Akintade argued that prohibiting AI tools outright is not the service, especially when AI presents an opportunity to leapfrog traditional instructional methods.
- She believes that consistently strengthening essential info assists individuals keep in mind and avoid making mistakes when faced with difficulties.
"Immersion brings conversion. When you inform individuals the same thing over and over again, when they will make the mistakes, then they'll remember."
She likewise empasized the need for clear policies and treatments within schools, keeping in mind that numerous schools need to deal with the individuals and christianpedia.com procedure elements of this usage.
- Prof. Nwaogwugwu has turned to in-class assignments and tests to counter AI-driven scholastic dishonesty.
"Now, I mainly use tasks to guarantee trainees offer initial work." However, he acknowledged that managing large classes makes this technique hard.
"If you set complex concerns, trainees will not have the ability to utilize AI to get direct answers," he discussed.
He emphasized the requirement for universities to train lecturers on crafting exam concerns that AI can not easily solve while acknowledging that some speakers struggle to counter AI misuse due to a lack of technological awareness. "Some lecturers are analogue," he stated.
- Nigeria launched a draft National AI Strategy in August 2024, concentrating on ethical AI advancement with fairness, openness, responsibility, and personal privacy at its core.
- UNESCO in a report calls for the guideline of AI in education, recommending institutions to examine algorithms, information, and outputs of generative AI tools to ensure they meet ethical standards, secure user data, and filter inappropriate material.
- It stresses the requirement to examine the long-lasting impact of AI on like thinking and creativity while producing policies that line up with ethical frameworks. Additionally, UNESCO suggests carrying out age limitations for GenAI usage to secure more youthful students and safeguard susceptible groups.
- For federal governments, it encouraged embracing a coordinated nationwide approach to controling GenAI, including establishing oversight bodies and lining up regulations with existing data security and personal privacy laws. It stresses evaluating AI risks, imposing stricter guidelines for high-risk applications, and making sure national information ownership.