Nigerian Students Turn to aI For Tests Answers, Lecturers Raise Alarm
Expert System (AI) is transforming education while making finding out more accessible but likewise sparking disputes on its impact.
While trainees hail AI tools like ChatGPT for boosting their knowing experience, speakers are raising concerns about the growing reliance on AI, which they argue fosters laziness and weakens academic stability, specifically with many trainees not able to protect their assignments or provided works.
Prof. Isaac Nwaogwugwu, a speaker at the University of Lagos, in an interview with Nairametrics, revealed aggravation over the growing dependence on AI-generated responses amongst trainees recounting a recent experience he had.
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"I provided an assignment to my MBA trainees, and out of over 100 trainees, about 40% sent the exact same responses. These trainees did not even understand each other, however they all used the very same AI tool to create their responses," he said.
He noted that this trend is widespread among both undergraduate and postgraduate trainees but is particularly concerning in part-time and range knowing programs.
"AI is a serious difficulty when it concerns projects. Many students no longer believe critically-they simply go online, produce responses, and submit," he included.
Surprisingly, some speakers are also implicated of over-relying on AI, setting a cycle where both teachers and students turn to AI for convenience instead of intellectual rigor.
This debate raises critical questions about the function of AI in academic stability and trainee development.
According to a UNESCO report, while ChatGPT reached 100 million month-to-month active users in January 2023, just one country had released guidelines on generative AI since July 2023.
Since December 2024, ChatGPT had over 300 million the AI chatbot every week and 1 billion messages sent out every day around the globe.
Decline of academic rigor
University lecturers are progressively worried about students submitting AI-generated assignments without really comprehending the content.
Dr. Felix Echekoba, a speaker at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, revealed his concerns to Nairametrics about students significantly depending on ChatGPT, only to have problem with answering basic questions when checked.
"Many trainees copy from ChatGPT and send sleek assignments, however when asked standard questions, they go blank. It's frustrating since education has to do with discovering, not just passing courses," he stated.
- Prof. Nwaogwugwu pointed out that the increasing number of first-rate graduates can not be entirely credited to AI however admitted that even high-performing trainees utilize these tools.
"A first-rate student is a top-notch student, AI or not, but that doesn't suggest they don't cheat. The benefits of AI may be peripheral, however it is making students dependent and less analytical," he said.
- Another speaker, Dr. Ereke, from Ebonyi State University, raised a various concern that some speakers themselves are guilty of the same practice.
"It's not just trainees using AI slackly. Some speakers, out of their own laziness, generate lesson notes, course details, marking schemes, and even examination concerns with AI without evaluating them. Students in turn utilize AI to produce responses. It's a cycle of laziness and it is killing real learning," he lamented.
Students' perspectives on use
Students, on the other hand, state AI has improved their learning experience by making scholastic products more easy to understand and accessible.
- Eniola Arowosafe, a 300-level Business Administration student at Unilag, shared how AI has considerably assisted her learning by breaking down complex terms and offering summaries of lengthy texts.
"AI assisted me comprehend things more easily, especially when handling complex topics," she explained.
However, she remembered an instance when she used AI to submit her job, only for her speaker to instantly acknowledge that it was produced by ChatGPT and reject it. Eniola kept in mind that it was a good-bad impact.
- Bryan Okwuba, who recently finished with a first-rate degree in Pharmacy Technology from the University of Lagos, strongly thinks that his scholastic success wasn't due to any AI tool. He associates his exceptional grades to actively appealing by asking concerns and focusing on areas that speakers stress in class, as they are frequently reflected in exam concerns.
"It's all about being present, focusing, and using the wealth of knowledge shared by my coworkers," he stated,
- Tunde Awoshita, a final-year marketing trainee at UNIZIK, admits to periodically copying directly from ChatGPT when dealing with several due dates.
"To be sincere, there are times I copy directly from ChatGPT when I have several due dates, and I know I'm guilty of that, a lot of times the speakers don't get to check out them, however AI has actually likewise assisted me find out quicker."
Balancing AI's function in education
Experts think the solution depends on AI literacy; teaching trainees and asteroidsathome.net lecturers how to utilize AI as a knowing help rather than a shortcut.
- Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, highlighted the combination of AI into Nigeria's education system, stressing the importance of a well balanced technique that maintains human participation while harnessing AI to improve learning results.
"As we browse the rapidly progressing landscape of Artificial Intelligence (AI), it is crucial that we prioritise human company in education. We must make sure that AI enhances, instead of changes, educators' essential function in shaping young minds," he stated
Concerns over AI in Learning
Dorcas Akintade, a cybersecurity change specialist, resolved growing issues relating to making use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools such as ChatGPT and their possible dangers to the academic system.
- She acknowledged the benefits of AI, however, highlighted the need for caution in its usage.
- Akintade highlighted the increasing resistance amongst educators and schools towards including AI tools in finding out environments. She determined 2 main reasons AI tools are dissuaded in educational settings: security threats and plagiarism. She described that AI tools like ChatGPT are trained to react based on user interactions, which might not align with the expectations of educators.
"It is not taking a look at it as a tutor," Akintade said, discussing that AI does not cater to specific teaching methods.
Plagiarism is another concern, as AI pulls from existing information, often without proper attribution
"A lot of people need to comprehend, like I stated, this is information that has been trained on. It is not simply bringing things out from the sky. It's bringing information that some other individuals are fed into it, which in essence indicates that is another individual's documentation," she warned.
- Additionally, Akintade highlighted an early concern in AI advancement referred to as "hallucination," where AI tools would produce info that was not accurate.
"Hallucination meant that it was highlighting info from the air. If ChatGPT might not get that info from you, it was going to make one up," she discussed.
She advised "grounding" AI by supplying it with specific details to avoid such errors.
Navigating AI in Education
Akintade argued that prohibiting AI tools outright is not the option, especially when AI provides an opportunity to leapfrog traditional academic approaches.
- She thinks that consistently enhancing key details helps individuals keep in mind and prevent making mistakes when confronted with obstacles.
"Immersion brings conversion. When you tell individuals the very same thing over and over once again, when they are about to make the errors, then they'll remember."
She likewise empasized the requirement for clear policies and procedures within schools, keeping in mind that numerous schools ought to attend to individuals and procedure elements of this use.
- Prof. Nwaogwugwu has resorted to in-class tasks and tests to counter AI-driven scholastic dishonesty.
"Now, I generally utilize tasks to make sure students provide initial work." However, he acknowledged that managing large classes makes this approach difficult.
"If you set complicated concerns, students won't have the ability to utilize AI to get direct answers," he discussed.
He highlighted the requirement for universities to train speakers on crafting examination concerns that AI can not easily fix while acknowledging that some lecturers battle to counter AI misuse due to an absence of technological awareness. "Some speakers are analogue," he stated.
- Nigeria launched a draft National AI Strategy in August 2024, focusing on ethical AI advancement with fairness, openness, responsibility, and personal privacy at its core.
- UNESCO in a report calls for the policy of AI in education, recommending organizations to examine algorithms, data, and outputs of generative AI tools to ensure they satisfy ethical standards, protect user data, and filter inappropriate content.
- It worries the requirement to assess the long-term effect of AI on vital skills like thinking and creativity while producing policies that line up with ethical structures. Additionally, UNESCO advises executing age limitations for GenAI usage to protect more youthful trainees and safeguard susceptible groups.
- For federal governments, it recommended adopting a coordinated national method to controling GenAI, prawattasao.awardspace.info including establishing oversight bodies and aligning policies with existing data defense and privacy laws. It emphasizes examining AI risks, enforcing stricter guidelines for high-risk applications, and ensuring national information ownership.