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

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming education while making finding out more accessible but likewise sparking arguments on its impact.

While trainees hail AI tools like ChatGPT for enhancing their knowing experience, speakers are raising issues about the growing reliance on AI, which they argue fosters laziness and weakens scholastic stability, especially with many students unable to protect their assignments or given works.

Prof. Isaac Nwaogwugwu, a speaker 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 provided an assignment to my MBA students, and out of over 100 trainees, about 40% sent the exact same responses. These trainees did not even know each other, however they all utilized the very same AI tool to create their actions,” he stated.

He kept in mind that this trend is widespread amongst both undergraduate and postgraduate students however is specifically worrying in part-time and range learning programs.

AI is a major obstacle when it comes to assignments. Many students no longer believe critically-they just go online, create answers, and submit,” he included.

Surprisingly, some lecturers 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 dispute raises critical concerns about the function of AI in academic integrity and trainee advancement.

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

Since December 2024, ChatGPT had over 300 million people using the AI chatbot each week and 1 billion messages sent every day worldwide.

Decline of scholastic rigor

University lecturers are progressively worried about students submitting AI-generated assignments without genuinely understanding the material.

Dr. Felix Echekoba, a lecturer at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, expressed his issues to Nairametrics about trainees increasingly counting on ChatGPT, only to fight with responding to fundamental questions when tested.

“Many trainees copy from ChatGPT and send sleek tasks, but when asked standard concerns, they go blank. It’s frustrating since education is about finding out, not simply passing courses,” he said.

– Prof. Nwaogwugwu explained that the increasing variety of top-notch graduates can not be totally credited to AI but confessed that even high-performing students use these tools.

“A superior trainee is a first-class trainee, AI or not, however that does not imply they don’t cheat. The advantages of AI might be peripheral, but it is making students dependent and less analytical,” he stated.

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

“It’s not just trainees using AI slackly. Some lecturers, out of their own laziness, create lesson notes, course outlines, marking plans, and even test questions with AI without reviewing them. Students in turn use AI to produce responses. It’s a cycle of laziness and it is killing real knowing,” he regreted.

Students’ perspectives on usage

Students, on the other hand, state AI has actually enhanced their learning experience by making academic products more reasonable and experienciacortazar.com.ar accessible.

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

AI helped me understand things more easily, specifically when handling intricate topics,” she described.

However, she remembered an instance when she used AI to send her task, just for her speaker to immediately recognize that it was created by ChatGPT and reject it. Eniola noted that it was a good-bad effect.

– Bryan Okwuba, bphomesteading.com who just recently graduated with a first-class degree in Pharmacy Technology from the University of Lagos, securely thinks that his academic success wasn’t due to any AI tool. He associates his impressive grades to actively engaging by asking concerns and focusing on locations that lecturers emphasize in class, as they are typically reflected in test questions.

“It’s everything about being present, taking note, and using the wealth of understanding shared by my associates,” he said,

– Tunde Awoshita, a final-year marketing student at UNIZIK, confesses to occasionally copying straight from ChatGPT when dealing with several due dates.

“To be sincere, there are times I copy straight from ChatGPT when I have multiple deadlines, and I understand I’m guilty of that, a lot of times the lecturers do not get to check out them, but AI has actually also helped me learn much faster.”

Balancing AI‘s function in education

Experts think the solution depends on AI literacy; mentor students and how to utilize AI as a learning help rather than a faster way.

– Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, highlighted the combination of AI into Nigeria’s education system, stressing the significance of a balanced approach that maintains human involvement while harnessing AI to enhance finding out results.

“As we navigate the rapidly developing landscape of Artificial Intelligence (AI), it is important that we prioritise human firm in education. We need to make sure that AI enhances, rather than changes, educators’ essential function in shaping young minds,” he said

Concerns over AI in Learning

Dorcas Akintade, a cybersecurity improvement expert, dealt with growing issues relating to the use of synthetic intelligence (AI) tools such as ChatGPT and their possible risks to the instructional system.

– She acknowledged the advantages of AI, however, emphasized the need for care in its usage.

– Akintade highlighted the increasing hesitance among teachers and schools toward including AI tools in learning environments. She recognized two primary reasons that AI tools are prevented in instructional settings: security threats and plagiarism. She discussed 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 stated, discussing that AI doesn’t cater to particular mentor methods.

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

“A great deal of people need to understand, like I stated, this is data that has been trained on. It is not just bringing things out from the sky. It’s bringing information that some other individuals are fed into it, which in essence implies that is another individual’s documentation,” she warned.

– Additionally, Akintade highlighted an early issue in AI advancement referred to as “hallucination,” where AI tools would create info that was not factual.

“Hallucination implied that it was bringing out details from the air. If ChatGPT might not get that info from you, it was going to make one up,” she explained.

She advised “grounding” AI by supplying it with specific info to prevent such mistakes.

Navigating AI in Education

Akintade argued that banning AI tools outright is not the option, particularly when AI presents a chance to leapfrog traditional instructional techniques.

– She thinks that consistently reinforcing key information helps individuals keep in mind and avoid making mistakes when confronted with obstacles.

“Immersion brings conversion. When you inform people the exact same thing over and over once again, when they are about to make the mistakes, then they’ll keep in mind.”

She likewise empasized the requirement for clear policies and treatments within schools, keeping in mind that many schools ought to address individuals and process aspects of this use.

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

“Now, I mainly utilize assignments to make sure trainees offer original work.” However, he acknowledged that handling large classes makes this approach challenging.

“If you set intricate concerns, trainees will not have the ability to utilize AI to get direct answers,” he discussed.

He stressed the need for universities to train lecturers on crafting examination questions that AI can not easily solve while acknowledging that some lecturers battle to counter AI misuse due to a lack of technological awareness. “Some lecturers are analogue,” he said.

Nigeria released a draft National AI Strategy in August 2024, focusing on ethical AI advancement with fairness, openness, responsibility, and privacy at its core.

– UNESCO in a report requires the guideline of AI in education, encouraging institutions to investigate algorithms, data, and outputs of generative AI tools to guarantee they fulfill ethical standards, secure user data, and filter unsuitable content.

– It worries the need to evaluate the long-term effect of AI on important skills like thinking and creativity while producing policies that line up with ethical frameworks. Additionally, UNESCO suggests executing age limitations for GenAI use to safeguard more youthful students and secure susceptible groups.
– For federal governments, it advised embracing a coordinated national method to regulating GenAI, including developing oversight bodies and lining up guidelines with existing data security and personal privacy laws. It emphasizes evaluating AI risks, imposing more stringent guidelines for high-risk applications, and ensuring nationwide data ownership.