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Nigerian Students Turn to aI For Tests Answers, Lecturers Raise Alarm
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is changing education while making discovering more accessible but likewise sparking arguments on its impact.
While students hail AI tools like ChatGPT for boosting their knowing experience, speakers are raising issues about the growing reliance on AI, which they argue fosters laziness and weakens academic integrity, specifically with many students unable to protect their assignments or offered works.
Prof. Isaac Nwaogwugwu, a lecturer at the University of Lagos, in an interview with Nairametrics, wikitravel.org revealed aggravation over the growing reliance on AI-generated responses among trainees stating a recent experience he had.
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“I gave an assignment to my MBA trainees, and out of over 100 students, about 40% sent the exact same answers. These trainees did not even understand each other, however they all utilized the very same AI tool to produce their actions,” he said.
He noted that this pattern prevails amongst both undergraduate and postgraduate trainees however is particularly worrying in part-time and range knowing programs.
“AI is a serious challenge when it comes to assignments. Many trainees no longer think critically-they simply browse the web, generate responses, and submit,” he added.
Surprisingly, some lecturers are likewise accused of over-relying on AI, setting a cycle where both educators and trainees turn to AI for convenience instead of intellectual rigor.
This argument raises important concerns about the role of AI in academic stability and trainee development.
According to a UNESCO report, while ChatGPT reached 100 million regular monthly active users in January 2023, just one nation had actually launched guidelines on generative AI as of July 2023.
Since December 2024, library.kemu.ac.ke ChatGPT had over 300 million individuals utilizing the AI chatbot weekly and 1 billion messages sent every day around the globe.
Decline of academic rigor
University speakers are significantly worried about trainees submitting AI-generated projects without really comprehending the content.
Dr. Felix Echekoba, kenpoguy.com a lecturer at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, expressed his concerns to Nairametrics about trainees significantly depending on ChatGPT, only to deal with addressing basic questions when tested.
“Many trainees copy from ChatGPT and send refined assignments, but when asked standard concerns, they go blank. It’s frustrating since education is about finding out, not simply passing courses,” he stated.
– Prof. Nwaogwugwu pointed out that the increasing variety of first-rate graduates can not be completely credited to AI but confessed that even high-performing students utilize these tools.
“A first-class trainee is a top-notch student, AI or not, but that doesn’t indicate they don’t cheat. The advantages of AI might be peripheral, however it is making students dependent and less analytical,” he said.
– Another lecturer, Dr. Ereke, from Ebonyi State University, raised a different issue that some speakers themselves are guilty of the same practice.
“It’s not just students utilizing AI slackly. Some speakers, out of their own laziness, generate lesson notes, course describes, marking schemes, and even exam concerns with AI without examining them. Students in turn use AI to produce responses. It’s a cycle of laziness and it is killing genuine knowing,” he regreted.
Students’ point of views on use
Students, on the other hand, say AI has actually enhanced their learning experience by making scholastic materials more reasonable and accessible.
– Eniola Arowosafe, a 300-level Business Administration student at Unilag, shared how AI has actually significantly assisted her knowing by breaking down complex terms and supplying summaries of lengthy texts.
“AI assisted me understand things more quickly, especially when dealing with complicated subjects,” she discussed.
However, she remembered an instance when she used AI to send her task, just for her speaker to immediately acknowledge that it was generated by ChatGPT and reject it. Eniola kept in mind that it was a good-bad result.
– Bryan Okwuba, who just recently graduated 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 associates his outstanding grades to actively engaging by asking concerns and concentrating on areas that speakers emphasize in class, as they are often reflected in exam questions.
“It’s all about being present, taking note, and taking advantage of the wealth of knowledge shared by my associates,” he stated,
– Tunde Awoshita, a final-year marketing trainee at UNIZIK, confesses to sometimes copying directly from ChatGPT when facing multiple due dates.
“To be honest, there are times I copy directly from ChatGPT when I have multiple due dates, and I understand I’m guilty of that, the majority of times the speakers do not get to check out through them, but AI has actually also helped me find out much faster.”
Balancing AI‘s role in education
Experts believe the service lies in AI literacy; mentor students and speakers how to use AI as a learning aid instead of a faster way.
– Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, highlighted the integration of AI into Nigeria’s education system, stressing the importance of a well balanced method that keeps human involvement while harnessing AI to improve learning results.
“As we navigate the rapidly developing landscape of Artificial Intelligence (AI), it is essential that we prioritise human firm in education. We should guarantee that AI boosts, rather than changes, teachers’ essential function in shaping young minds,” he stated
Dorcas Akintade, rocksoff.org a cybersecurity improvement expert, attended to growing concerns relating to the usage of expert system (AI) tools such as ChatGPT and their possible risks to the academic system.
– She acknowledged the benefits of AI, nevertheless, emphasized the requirement for care in its use.
– Akintade highlighted the increasing hesitance among teachers and schools towards incorporating AI tools in finding out environments. She determined two main reasons why AI tools are prevented in educational settings: security threats and plagiarism. She explained that AI tools like ChatGPT are trained to react based on user interactions, which may not align with the expectations of teachers.
“It is not looking at it as a tutor,” Akintade said, discussing that AI doesn’t accommodate particular teaching approaches.
Plagiarism is another problem, as AI pulls from existing data, frequently without appropriate attribution
“A lot of people need to understand, like I said, this is data that has actually been trained on. It is not just bringing things out from the sky. It’s bringing details that some other people are fed into it, which in essence suggests that is another person’s documents,” she warned.
– Additionally, Akintade highlighted an early issue in AI advancement called “hallucination,” where AI tools would generate info that was not accurate.
“Hallucination suggested that it was highlighting info from the air. If ChatGPT could not get that info from you, it was going to make one up,” she explained.
She recommended “grounding” AI by providing it with specific info to prevent such mistakes.
Navigating AI in Education
Akintade argued that prohibiting AI tools outright is not the service, particularly when AI provides an opportunity to leapfrog standard academic approaches.
– She thinks that regularly enhancing key information helps people keep in mind and prevent making mistakes when faced with obstacles.
“Immersion brings conversion. When you tell people the exact same thing over and over once again, when they will make the mistakes, then they’ll keep in mind.”
She also empasized the requirement for clear policies and procedures within schools, noting that lots of schools must attend to the individuals and procedure aspects of this use.
– Prof. Nwaogwugwu has actually turned to in-class assignments and tests to counter AI-driven academic dishonesty.
“Now, I generally utilize projects to guarantee students offer initial work.” However, he acknowledged that managing large classes makes this technique hard.
“If you set complex concerns, trainees won’t be able to utilize AI to get direct responses,” he discussed.
He emphasized the need for universities to train speakers on crafting test 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 released a draft National AI Strategy in August 2024, concentrating on ethical AI development with fairness, openness, responsibility, and privacy at its core.
– UNESCO in a report requires the policy of AI in education, advising organizations to investigate algorithms, information, and outputs of generative AI tools to they satisfy ethical requirements, secure user data, and filter improper material.
– It stresses the requirement to assess the long-term effect of AI on vital skills like thinking and imagination while producing policies that line up with ethical structures. Additionally, UNESCO recommends executing age restrictions for GenAI use to secure younger students and safeguard vulnerable groups.
– For federal governments, it recommended embracing a collaborated nationwide method to controling GenAI, forum.altaycoins.com consisting of establishing oversight bodies and aligning guidelines with existing information protection and privacy laws. It stresses examining AI risks, enforcing stricter rules for high-risk applications, and ensuring nationwide data ownership.
