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

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming education while making finding out more available however likewise sparking disputes on its effect.

While trainees hail AI tools like ChatGPT for enhancing their learning experience, speakers are raising issues about the growing reliance on AI, which they argue fosters laziness and undermines scholastic stability, particularly with many trainees not able to safeguard their assignments or provided works.

Prof. Isaac Nwaogwugwu, a lecturer at the University of Lagos, in an interview with Nairametrics, revealed disappointment over the growing reliance on AI-generated actions among students recounting a current experience he had.

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“I provided an assignment to my MBA students, and out of over 100 trainees, about 40% submitted the exact very same answers. These students did not even understand each other, however they all used the very same AI tool to generate their responses,” he stated.

He noted that this trend is widespread among both undergraduate and postgraduate students however is particularly concerning in part-time and distance knowing programs.

“AI is a major obstacle when it comes to projects. Many students no longer believe critically-they just browse the web, create answers, and submit,” he added.

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

This debate raises crucial concerns about the function of AI in scholastic stability and student development.

According to a UNESCO report, while ChatGPT reached 100 million regular monthly active users in January 2023, only one country had actually launched regulations on generative AI since July 2023.

As of December 2024, ChatGPT had over 300 million people using the AI chatbot weekly and 1 billion messages sent out every day all over the world.

Decline of academic rigor

University speakers are significantly worried about trainees sending AI-generated projects without really comprehending the content.

Dr. Felix Echekoba, a lecturer at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, revealed his issues to Nairametrics about trainees progressively on ChatGPT, only to have problem with answering fundamental questions when tested.

“Many students copy from ChatGPT and send refined assignments, but when asked basic concerns, they go blank. It’s frustrating since education has to do with discovering, not simply passing courses,” he stated.

– Prof. Nwaogwugwu mentioned that the increasing number of first-class graduates can not be completely credited to AI but confessed that even high-performing students use these tools.

“A first-class student is a top-notch trainee, AI or not, but that does not indicate they do not cheat. The advantages of AI may be peripheral, but it is making students reliant 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 exact same practice.

“It’s not just students utilizing AI lazily. Some lecturers, out of their own laziness, create lesson notes, course outlines, marking schemes, and even exam questions with AI without examining them. Students in turn use AI to create answers. It’s a cycle of laziness and it is eliminating real learning,” he regreted.

Students’ viewpoints on use

Students, on the other hand, say AI has actually enhanced their learning experience by making scholastic materials more easy to understand and accessible.

– Eniola Arowosafe, a 300-level Business Administration student at Unilag, shared how AI has substantially helped her learning by breaking down complex terms and providing summaries of prolonged texts.

“AI assisted me understand things more quickly, specifically when dealing with complex subjects,” she described.

However, she recalled a circumstances when she used AI to submit her task, just for her lecturer 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 recently finished with a first-class degree in Pharmacy Technology from the University of Lagos, strongly believes that his scholastic success wasn’t due to any AI tool. He attributes his impressive grades to actively interesting by asking concerns and focusing on areas that lecturers stress in class, as they are typically reflected in exam questions.

“It’s everything about being present, focusing, and tapping into the wealth of knowledge shared by my associates,” he stated,

– Tunde Awoshita, a final-year marketing trainee at UNIZIK, admits to occasionally copying straight from ChatGPT when facing numerous deadlines.

“To be sincere, there are times I copy directly from ChatGPT when I have several deadlines, and I understand I’m guilty of that, a lot of times the lecturers do not get to read through them, but AI has actually likewise helped me discover quicker.”

Balancing AI‘s role in education

Experts believe the option depends on AI literacy; mentor trainees and larsaluarna.se speakers 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, worrying the significance of a well balanced method that keeps human involvement while harnessing AI to improve finding out outcomes.

“As we navigate the rapidly evolving landscape of Artificial Intelligence (AI), it is important that we prioritise human firm in education. We must ensure that AI boosts, instead of replaces, teachers’ essential function in shaping young minds,” he said

Concerns over AI in Learning

Dorcas Akintade, a cybersecurity transformation specialist, dealt with growing concerns relating to making use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools such as ChatGPT and their possible risks to the academic system.

– She acknowledged the advantages of AI, however, emphasized the requirement for care in its use.

– Akintade highlighted the increasing hesitance amongst teachers and schools toward including AI tools in finding out environments. She identified two primary reasons AI tools are discouraged in educational settings: security threats and plagiarism. She explained that AI tools like ChatGPT are trained to react based on user interactions, which might not line up with the expectations of teachers.

“It is not looking at it as a tutor,” Akintade said, explaining that AI does not accommodate particular mentor techniques.

Plagiarism is another issue, as AI pulls from existing information, frequently without correct attribution

“A great deal of individuals require to comprehend, 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 details that some other individuals are fed into it, which in essence implies that is another individual’s documentation,” she cautioned.

– Additionally, Akintade highlighted an early concern in AI development referred to as “hallucination,” where AI tools would produce details that was not accurate.

“Hallucination implied that it was bringing out information from the air. If ChatGPT could not get that information from you, it was going to make one up,” she described.

She suggested “grounding” AI by supplying it with specific details to prevent such mistakes.

Navigating AI in Education

Akintade argued that banning AI tools outright is not the option, particularly when AI provides a chance to leapfrog conventional educational approaches.

– She thinks that regularly enhancing crucial details helps individuals keep in mind and prevent making errors when confronted with obstacles.

“Immersion brings conversion. When you inform individuals the very 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 ought to resolve individuals and procedure aspects of this usage.

– Prof. Nwaogwugwu has actually turned to in-class tasks and tests to counter AI-driven academic dishonesty.

“Now, I primarily use tasks to make sure students offer initial work.” However, he acknowledged that handling large classes makes this approach tough.

“If you set complicated concerns, trainees won’t have the ability to utilize AI to get direct answers,” he described.

He emphasized the requirement for universities to train speakers on crafting test questions that AI can not easily fix while acknowledging that some speakers battle to counter AI misuse due to a lack of technological awareness. “Some lecturers are analogue,” he stated.

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

– UNESCO in a report calls for the guideline of AI in education, encouraging organizations to audit algorithms, information, and outputs of generative AI tools to ensure they satisfy ethical standards, gratisafhalen.be secure user information, and filter improper material.

– It worries the requirement to examine the long-term impact of AI on critical abilities like believing and imagination while developing policies that line up with ethical structures. Additionally, UNESCO recommends implementing age constraints for GenAI usage to protect younger students and surgiteams.com protect vulnerable groups.
– For governments, it recommended embracing a coordinated national method to regulating GenAI, including establishing oversight bodies and aligning policies with existing information protection and privacy laws. It emphasizes evaluating AI risks, imposing more stringent rules for high-risk applications, bphomesteading.com and guaranteeing national data ownership.