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Nigerian Students Turn to aI For Tests Answers, Lecturers Raise Alarm

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is reinventing education while making finding out more available however also stimulating disputes on its effect.

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 weakens academic integrity, particularly with many trainees unable to protect their assignments or given works.

Prof. Isaac Nwaogwugwu, a lecturer at the University of Lagos, in an interview with Nairametrics, expressed frustration over the growing reliance on AI-generated responses among students stating a recent experience he had.

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“I provided an assignment to my MBA trainees, and out of over 100 students, about 40% sent the specific same responses. These students did not even understand each other, however they all utilized the exact same AI tool to produce their reactions,” he said.

He noted that this trend prevails among both undergraduate and postgraduate students however is especially worrying in part-time and distance learning programs.

“AI is a major difficulty when it pertains to tasks. Many trainees no longer think critically-they just go on the internet, create responses, and send,” he included.

Surprisingly, some lecturers are also implicated of over-relying on AI, setting a cycle where both teachers and students turn to AI for convenience rather than intellectual rigor.

This dispute raises crucial questions about the role of AI in scholastic 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 actually launched regulations on generative AI as of July 2023.

Since December 2024, ChatGPT had more than 300 million individuals utilizing the AI chatbot every week and 1 billion messages sent out every day all over the world.

Decline of academic rigor

are progressively worried about students submitting AI-generated projects without genuinely comprehending the content.

Dr. Felix Echekoba, a speaker at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, expressed his issues to Nairametrics about students increasingly counting on ChatGPT, only to deal with responding to fundamental questions when evaluated.

“Many students copy from ChatGPT and submit polished assignments, but when asked standard questions, they go blank. It’s disappointing since education is about finding out, not just passing courses,” he said.

– Prof. Nwaogwugwu pointed out that the increasing number of first-class graduates can not be completely credited to AI but admitted that even high-performing trainees use these tools.

“A top-notch trainee is a top-notch student, AI or not, however that doesn’t suggest they do not cheat. The advantages of AI may be peripheral, however it is making trainees reliant and less analytical,” he said.

– Another lecturer, Dr. Ereke, from Ebonyi State University, raised a various concern that some speakers themselves are guilty of the same practice.

“It’s not simply students using AI lazily. Some speakers, out of their own laziness, create lesson notes, course outlines, marking schemes, and even examination questions with AI without examining them. Students in turn utilize AI to produce responses. It’s a cycle of laziness and it is killing real learning,” he lamented.

Students’ viewpoints on use

Students, on the other hand, state AI has actually improved their learning experience by making scholastic materials more easy to understand and available.

– Eniola Arowosafe, a 300-level Business Administration trainee at Unilag, shared how AI has actually significantly helped her knowing by breaking down complex terms and providing summaries of lengthy texts.

“AI assisted me understand things more easily, especially when dealing with complicated subjects,” she discussed.

However, she recalled a circumstances when she utilized AI to send her job, only for her speaker to right away recognize that it was generated by ChatGPT and reject it. Eniola kept in mind that it was a good-bad effect.

– Bryan Okwuba, who just recently finished with a superior 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 impressive grades to actively appealing by asking concerns and concentrating on locations that speakers highlight in class, as they are frequently shown in test questions.

“It’s all about being present, paying attention, and using the wealth of understanding shared by my coworkers,” he stated,

– Tunde Awoshita, a final-year marketing student at UNIZIK, admits to periodically copying directly from ChatGPT when dealing with multiple deadlines.

“To be truthful, there are times I copy directly from ChatGPT when I have numerous due dates, and I know I’m guilty of that, most times the lecturers do not get to check out them, however AI has actually also helped me discover much faster.”

Balancing AI‘s function in education

Experts think the solution depends on AI literacy; teaching trainees and lecturers how to use AI as a knowing aid rather than a faster way.

– Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, highlighted the combination of AI into Nigeria’s education system, stressing the value of a balanced technique that preserves human involvement while harnessing AI to improve finding out results.

“As we navigate the quickly progressing landscape of Artificial Intelligence (AI), it is essential that we prioritise human firm in education. We need to guarantee that AI boosts, rather than replaces, educators’ vital function in forming young minds,” he said

Concerns over AI in Learning

Dorcas Akintade, a cybersecurity improvement specialist, attended to growing concerns concerning making use of synthetic intelligence (AI) tools such as ChatGPT and their prospective threats to the academic system.

– She acknowledged the advantages of AI, utahsyardsale.com however, emphasized the need for caution in its use.

– Akintade highlighted the increasing resistance amongst educators and schools toward incorporating AI tools in finding out environments. She recognized two main reasons that AI tools are dissuaded in educational settings: security dangers and plagiarism. She discussed that AI tools like ChatGPT are trained to react based upon user interactions, which may not line up with the expectations of teachers.

“It is not looking at it as a tutor,” Akintade stated, describing that AI does not accommodate specific teaching methods.

Plagiarism is another concern, as AI pulls from existing information, frequently without appropriate attribution

“A great deal of individuals require to comprehend, like I stated, this is information that has actually been trained on. It is not just bringing things out from the sky. It’s bringing details that some other individuals are fed into it, which in essence suggests that is another person’s documentation,” she cautioned.

– Additionally, Akintade highlighted an early concern in AI development understood as “hallucination,” where AI tools would generate info that was not accurate.

“Hallucination implied that it was drawing out info 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 providing it with specific details to prevent such errors.

Navigating AI in Education

Akintade argued that prohibiting AI tools outright is not the option, particularly when AI provides an opportunity to leapfrog conventional educational methods.

– She believes that regularly enhancing crucial info helps people remember and avoid making mistakes when faced with challenges.

“Immersion brings conversion. When you tell individuals the exact same thing over and over once again, when they are about to make the errors, then they’ll remember.”

She also empasized the requirement for clear policies and procedures within schools, keeping in mind that many schools must address the individuals and procedure aspects of this use.

– Prof. Nwaogwugwu has resorted to in-class projects and tests to counter AI-driven academic dishonesty.

“Now, I primarily use assignments to ensure students supply initial work.” However, bphomesteading.com he acknowledged that managing big classes makes this approach difficult.

“If you set complex questions, trainees will not have the ability to utilize AI to get direct answers,” he explained.

He highlighted the requirement for universities to train speakers on crafting examination concerns that AI can not quickly solve while acknowledging that some speakers struggle to counter AI misuse due to an absence of technological awareness. “Some speakers are analogue,” he said.

– Nigeria released a draft National AI Strategy in August 2024, concentrating on ethical AI development with fairness, openness, responsibility, and personal privacy at its core.

– UNESCO in a report requires the regulation of AI in education, recommending institutions to investigate algorithms, orcz.com information, and outputs of generative AI tools to ensure they meet ethical requirements, secure user data, and filter improper content.

– It stresses the need to examine the long-term effect of AI on important abilities like thinking and creativity while creating policies that line up with ethical frameworks. Additionally, UNESCO advises carrying out age constraints for GenAI usage to safeguard more youthful trainees and protect vulnerable groups.
– For governments, it recommended embracing a coordinated nationwide method to controling GenAI, consisting of developing oversight bodies and aligning regulations with existing information security and personal privacy laws. It emphasizes assessing AI threats, implementing more stringent guidelines for users.atw.hu high-risk applications, and guaranteeing nationwide information ownership.