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

Expert System (AI) is reinventing education while making finding out more accessible however also triggering disputes on its impact.

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 stability, specifically with lots of trainees not able to safeguard their assignments or offered works.

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

RelatedStories

Avoid sharing individual info that can recognize you with AI tools- Expert alerts

Chinese AI app DeepSeek triggers worldwide tech selloff, difficulties U.S. AI supremacy

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

He noted that this pattern is widespread among both undergraduate and postgraduate trainees but is especially worrying in part-time and range learning programs.

"AI is a severe challenge when it concerns projects. Many students no longer think critically-they simply go online, produce responses, and submit," he added.

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

This debate raises important questions about the function of AI in scholastic stability and student advancement.

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

As of December 2024, ChatGPT had more than 300 million people using the AI chatbot every week and 1 billion messages sent every day around the globe.

Decline of scholastic rigor

University speakers are significantly concerned about trainees sending AI-generated tasks without really understanding the material.

Dr. Felix Echekoba, a speaker at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, expressed his issues to Nairametrics about trainees progressively depending on ChatGPT, just to deal with responding to basic questions when checked.

"Many students copy from ChatGPT and send polished tasks, but when asked fundamental concerns, they go blank. It's frustrating due to the fact that education is about discovering, not just passing courses," he said.

- Prof. Nwaogwugwu pointed out that the increasing number of first-class graduates can not be entirely credited to AI but admitted that even high-performing students use these tools.
"A first-rate trainee is a first-rate student, AI or not, however that doesn't suggest they do not cheat. The benefits of AI may be peripheral, however it is making trainees 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 trainees using AI slackly. Some speakers, out of their own laziness, generate lesson notes, course outlines, marking plans, and even examination questions with AI without examining them. Students in turn use AI to generate answers. It's a cycle of laziness and it is killing real learning," he regreted.

Students' viewpoints on usage

Students, on the other hand, say AI has actually enhanced their learning experience by making scholastic products more reasonable and available.

- Eniola Arowosafe, a 300-level Business Administration student at Unilag, shared how AI has actually substantially aided her knowing by breaking down complex terms and providing summaries of prolonged texts.
"AI assisted me comprehend things more easily, specifically when dealing with intricate topics," she described.

However, she remembered an instance when she utilized AI to submit her project, only for systemcheck-wiki.de her lecturer to immediately acknowledge that it was produced by ChatGPT and decline it. Eniola noted that it was a good-bad impact.

- Bryan Okwuba, who just recently finished with a top-notch 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 outstanding grades to actively engaging by asking questions and concentrating on locations that lecturers stress in class, as they are typically shown in examination concerns.
"It's all about being present, focusing, and taking advantage of the wealth of knowledge shared by my associates," he said,

- Tunde Awoshita, a final-year marketing student at UNIZIK, admits to occasionally copying straight from ChatGPT when dealing with several due dates.
"To be truthful, there are times I copy directly from ChatGPT when I have several due dates, and I understand I'm guilty of that, the majority of times the lecturers do not get to check out them, however AI has actually also helped me find out much faster."

Balancing AI's function in education

Experts think the option depends on AI literacy; teaching students and lecturers how to use AI as a learning aid rather than a shortcut.

- Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, highlighted the integration of AI into Nigeria's education system, stressing the importance of a balanced method that maintains human involvement while utilizing AI to improve discovering results.
"As we browse the quickly progressing landscape of Expert system (AI), it is essential that we prioritise human firm in education. We must make sure that AI improves, rather than changes, educators' essential function in forming young minds," he said

Concerns over AI in Learning

Dorcas Akintade, a cybersecurity transformation specialist, resolved growing concerns relating to making use of synthetic intelligence (AI) tools such as ChatGPT and users.atw.hu their possible dangers to the instructional system.

- She acknowledged the advantages of AI, ratemywifey.com nevertheless, emphasized the need for caution in its use.
- Akintade highlighted the increasing resistance among educators and schools toward including AI tools in finding out environments. She identified 2 primary reasons that AI tools are discouraged in instructional settings: security dangers and plagiarism. She discussed that AI tools like ChatGPT are trained to react based upon user interactions, which might not line up with the expectations of teachers.
"It is not taking a look at it as a tutor," Akintade stated, describing that AI doesn't deal with particular teaching methods.

Plagiarism is another issue, as AI pulls from existing data, typically without correct attribution

"A lot of individuals require to comprehend, like I stated, this is data that has 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 indicates that is another individual's documentation," she cautioned.

- Additionally, Akintade highlighted an early issue in AI advancement called "hallucination," where AI tools would produce info that was not factual.
"Hallucination suggested that it was highlighting information from the air. If ChatGPT could not get that details from you, it was going to make one up," she described.

She suggested "grounding" AI by supplying it with specific details to avoid such mistakes.

Navigating AI in Education

Akintade argued that prohibiting AI tools outright is not the service, particularly when AI provides a chance to leapfrog standard educational approaches.

- She thinks that regularly strengthening crucial details assists people keep in mind and prevent making errors when faced with obstacles.
"Immersion brings conversion. When you tell people the very same thing over and over once again, when they are about to make the mistakes, then they'll remember."

She also empasized the requirement for clear policies and treatments within schools, noting that numerous schools need to deal with the individuals and procedure aspects of this use.

- Prof. Nwaogwugwu has actually turned to in-class tasks and tests to counter AI-driven scholastic dishonesty.
"Now, I mainly use assignments to ensure trainees offer initial work." However, he acknowledged that managing big classes makes this technique tough.

"If you set intricate concerns, trainees won't be able to utilize AI to get direct responses," he explained.

He highlighted the requirement for universities to train speakers on crafting examination concerns that AI can not easily solve while acknowledging that some lecturers struggle to counter AI abuse due to a lack of technological awareness. "Some speakers are analogue," he stated.

- Nigeria released a draft National AI Strategy in August 2024, concentrating on ethical AI advancement with fairness, transparency, responsibility, online-learning-initiative.org and personal privacy at its core.
- UNESCO in a report calls for the regulation of AI in education, yidtravel.com advising institutions to examine algorithms, information, and outputs of generative AI tools to guarantee they fulfill ethical requirements, safeguard user information, and filter inappropriate content.
- It worries the requirement to examine the effect of AI on crucial skills like thinking and imagination while creating policies that line up with ethical structures. Additionally, UNESCO suggests carrying out age restrictions for GenAI use to protect more youthful students and safeguard susceptible groups.
- For federal governments, it advised adopting a collaborated national approach to managing GenAI, consisting of establishing oversight bodies and lining up regulations with existing information defense and personal privacy laws. It highlights examining AI dangers, imposing more stringent rules for high-risk applications, and guaranteeing nationwide information ownership.