Nigerian Students Turn to aI For Tests Answers, Lecturers Raise Alarm
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is reinventing education while making discovering more available however likewise stimulating disputes 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 undermines academic stability, specifically with many trainees not able to protect their projects or given works.
Prof. Isaac Nwaogwugwu, a lecturer at the University of Lagos, in an interview with Nairametrics, expressed disappointment over the growing dependence on AI-generated actions among students recounting a recent experience he had.
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"I offered a task to my MBA students, and out of over 100 students, about 40% sent the exact same responses. These students did not even know each other, but they all used the exact same AI tool to generate their actions," he stated.
He kept in mind that this trend is common amongst both undergraduate and postgraduate trainees however is particularly worrying in part-time and distance knowing programs.
"AI is a serious difficulty when it pertains to projects. Many trainees no longer think critically-they simply browse the web, produce responses, and submit," he added.
Surprisingly, some lecturers are likewise implicated of over-relying on AI, setting a cycle where both teachers and trainees turn to AI for convenience instead of intellectual rigor.
This dispute raises crucial questions about the role of AI in scholastic integrity and trainee development.
According to a UNESCO report, while ChatGPT reached 100 million regular monthly active users in January 2023, just one country had released guidelines on generative AI since July 2023.
As of December 2024, ChatGPT had over 300 million people utilizing the AI chatbot each week and 1 billion messages sent every day worldwide.
Decline of scholastic rigor
University lecturers are increasingly concerned about trainees sending AI-generated projects without truly comprehending the material.
Dr. Felix Echekoba, videochatforum.ro a lecturer at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, expressed his concerns to Nairametrics about students increasingly depending on ChatGPT, only to fight with responding to standard concerns when evaluated.
"Many trainees copy from ChatGPT and send refined tasks, but when asked basic concerns, they go blank. It's frustrating because education is about learning, not just passing courses," he said.
- Prof. Nwaogwugwu pointed out that the increasing variety of first-class graduates can not be entirely credited to AI but confessed that even use these tools.
"A superior trainee is a top-notch trainee, AI or not, however that does not mean they don't cheat. The benefits of AI may be peripheral, but it is making trainees reliant and less analytical," he said.
- Another speaker, Dr. Ereke, from Ebonyi State University, raised a different concern that some lecturers themselves are guilty of the same practice.
"It's not just trainees utilizing AI slackly. Some lecturers, out of their own laziness, generate 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 genuine knowing," he lamented.
Students' point of views on use
Students, on the other hand, state AI has improved their learning experience by making scholastic materials more reasonable and accessible.
- Eniola Arowosafe, a 300-level Business Administration trainee at Unilag, shared how AI has actually significantly aided her learning by breaking down complex terms and providing summaries of lengthy texts.
"AI assisted me understand things more easily, specifically when handling complex subjects," she discussed.
However, she remembered a circumstances when she used AI to send her task, just for her lecturer to immediately acknowledge that it was produced by ChatGPT and decline it. Eniola kept in mind that it was a good-bad result.
- Bryan Okwuba, who just recently graduated with a first-class degree in Pharmacy Technology from the University of Lagos, firmly believes 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 areas that lecturers highlight in class, prawattasao.awardspace.info as they are frequently reflected in test concerns.
"It's everything about being present, paying attention, and taking advantage of the wealth of knowledge shared by my coworkers," he stated,
- Tunde Awoshita, a final-year marketing student at UNIZIK, admits to occasionally copying straight from ChatGPT when dealing with multiple deadlines.
"To be honest, there are times I copy straight from ChatGPT when I have multiple due dates, and I know I'm guilty of that, a lot of times the speakers don't get to go through them, but AI has also helped me discover quicker."
Balancing AI's role in education
Experts think the option lies in AI literacy; mentor trainees and championsleage.review lecturers how to use AI as a learning aid rather than a shortcut.
- Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, photorum.eclat-mauve.fr highlighted the combination of AI into Nigeria's education system, stressing the significance of a balanced method that preserves human involvement while harnessing AI to enhance finding out outcomes.
"As we browse the rapidly developing landscape of Artificial Intelligence (AI), it is vital that we prioritise human company in education. We must ensure that AI boosts, rather than changes, educators' essential function in shaping young minds," he stated
Concerns over AI in Learning
Dorcas Akintade, a cybersecurity change expert, resolved growing concerns regarding using synthetic intelligence (AI) tools such as ChatGPT and their possible dangers to the educational system.
- She acknowledged the advantages of AI, wifidb.science however, emphasized the need for caution in its use.
- Akintade highlighted the increasing resistance amongst teachers and schools towards incorporating AI tools in discovering environments. She determined 2 main 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 on user interactions, which might not align with the expectations of teachers.
"It is not taking a look at it as a tutor," Akintade stated, describing that AI doesn't accommodate specific mentor methods.
Plagiarism is another issue, as AI pulls from existing information, frequently without proper attribution
"A great deal of people need to comprehend, like I stated, this is information that has actually been trained on. It is not simply bringing things out from the sky. It's bringing info that some other individuals are fed into it, which in essence means that is another person's documents," she cautioned.
- Additionally, Akintade highlighted an early concern in AI development known as "hallucination," where AI tools would produce info that was not accurate.
"Hallucination implied that it was bringing out information from the air. If ChatGPT might not get that info from you, it was going to make one up," she described.
She recommended "grounding" AI by supplying it with specific info to prevent such mistakes.
Navigating AI in Education
Akintade argued that prohibiting AI tools outright is not the solution, particularly when AI presents a chance to leapfrog conventional educational approaches.
- She thinks that consistently reinforcing crucial info helps individuals remember and prevent making errors when faced with difficulties.
"Immersion brings conversion. When you inform people the very same thing over and over again, when they will make the errors, then they'll keep in mind."
She also empasized the requirement for clear policies and treatments within schools, noting that numerous schools need to resolve individuals and process aspects of this use.
- Prof. Nwaogwugwu has turned to in-class tasks and tests to counter AI-driven scholastic dishonesty.
"Now, I generally utilize projects to guarantee trainees provide original work." However, he acknowledged that handling big classes makes this approach hard.
"If you set complicated questions, students won't have the ability to utilize AI to get direct answers," he explained.
He stressed the need for universities to train lecturers on crafting examination questions that AI can not easily solve while acknowledging that some speakers struggle to counter AI abuse due to a lack of technological awareness. "Some speakers are analogue," he said.
- Nigeria released a draft National AI Strategy in August 2024, focusing on ethical AI development with fairness, transparency, accountability, and addsub.wiki personal privacy at its core.
- UNESCO in a report calls for the guideline of AI in education, advising institutions to investigate algorithms, data, and outputs of generative AI tools to guarantee they satisfy ethical requirements, protect user data, and filter unsuitable content.
- It worries the need to examine the long-term impact of AI on critical skills like believing and imagination while producing policies that line up with ethical structures. Additionally, UNESCO advises carrying out age constraints for GenAI usage to protect younger trainees and safeguard susceptible groups.
- For governments, it recommended embracing a collaborated national method to controling GenAI, including establishing oversight bodies and aligning regulations with existing information defense and privacy laws. It stresses assessing AI threats, implementing more stringent guidelines for high-risk applications, and making sure national information ownership.