Nigerian Students Turn to aI For Tests Answers, Lecturers Raise Alarm
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing education while making discovering more accessible but likewise sparking debates on its effect.
While students hail AI tools like ChatGPT for improving their knowing experience, speakers are raising issues about the growing reliance on AI, which they argue fosters laziness and undermines scholastic integrity, particularly with numerous students unable to protect their assignments or offered works.
Prof. Isaac Nwaogwugwu, forum.pinoo.com.tr a speaker at the University of Lagos, in an interview with Nairametrics, mariskamast.net revealed aggravation over the growing dependence on AI-generated responses amongst trainees stating a current experience he had.
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"I provided a task to my MBA trainees, and out of over 100 trainees, about 40% submitted the specific very same answers. These trainees did not even understand each other, however they all used the same AI tool to create their responses," he stated.
He kept in mind that this pattern is common amongst both undergraduate and postgraduate trainees however is specifically worrying in part-time and range learning programs.
"AI is a serious obstacle when it pertains to assignments. Many trainees no longer believe critically-they just go on the internet, generate answers, and submit," he included.
Surprisingly, some lecturers are also implicated of over-relying on AI, setting a cycle where both educators and trainees turn to AI for benefit rather than intellectual rigor.
This argument raises important concerns about the function of AI in scholastic stability and trainee advancement.
According to a UNESCO report, while ChatGPT reached 100 million regular monthly active users in January 2023, only one nation had launched policies on generative AI since July 2023.
Since December 2024, ChatGPT had over 300 million people utilizing the AI chatbot weekly and 1 billion messages sent every day worldwide.
Decline of academic rigor
University lecturers are significantly worried about trainees sending AI-generated projects without genuinely understanding the material.
Dr. Felix Echekoba, a lecturer at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, revealed his issues to Nairametrics about students increasingly relying on ChatGPT, just to struggle with responding to standard questions when evaluated.
"Many trainees copy from ChatGPT and submit refined tasks, however when asked standard concerns, they go blank. It's frustrating since education has to do with discovering, not simply passing courses," he said.
- Prof. Nwaogwugwu explained that the increasing variety of top-notch graduates can not be entirely credited to AI but admitted that even high-performing students utilize these tools.
"A first-rate student is a top-notch student, AI or not, however that does not imply they do not cheat. The benefits of AI might be peripheral, but it is making trainees dependent and less analytical," he stated.
- Another speaker, Dr. Ereke, from Ebonyi State University, raised a different issue that some speakers themselves are guilty of the very same practice.
"It's not just students utilizing AI lazily. Some speakers, out of their own laziness, generate lesson notes, course details, marking schemes, and even test concerns with AI without reviewing them. Students in turn use AI to generate responses. It's a cycle of laziness and it is eliminating genuine learning," he lamented.
Students' viewpoints on use
Students, on the other hand, state AI has actually enhanced their learning experience by making academic materials more understandable and available.
- Eniola Arowosafe, a 300-level Business Administration trainee at Unilag, shared how AI has considerably aided her learning by breaking down complex terms and summaries of prolonged texts.
"AI helped me comprehend things more easily, especially when dealing with complex topics," she described.
However, forum.pinoo.com.tr she recalled a circumstances when she used AI to submit her job, only for her lecturer to right away recognize that it was created by ChatGPT and decline it. Eniola kept in mind that it was a good-bad effect.
- Bryan Okwuba, goadirectory.in who just recently finished with a superior degree in Pharmacy Technology from the University of Lagos, firmly believes that his academic success wasn't due to any AI tool. He attributes his outstanding grades to actively engaging by asking questions and focusing on locations that lecturers highlight in class, as they are often reflected in examination questions.
"It's all about existing, focusing, and using the wealth of knowledge shared by my colleagues," he said,
- Tunde Awoshita, a final-year marketing trainee at UNIZIK, confesses to occasionally copying straight from ChatGPT when facing multiple due dates.
"To be sincere, there are times I copy straight from ChatGPT when I have multiple deadlines, and I know I'm guilty of that, the majority of times the speakers don't get to review them, however AI has actually likewise helped me discover much faster."
Balancing AI's role in education
Experts believe the option lies in AI literacy; teaching trainees and lecturers how to use AI as a knowing aid instead of a faster way.
- Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, highlighted the integration of AI into Nigeria's education system, worrying the value of a well balanced method that preserves human involvement while utilizing AI to enhance learning outcomes.
"As we browse the quickly developing landscape of Artificial Intelligence (AI), it is important that we prioritise human firm in education. We must guarantee that AI boosts, instead of replaces, teachers' crucial function in forming young minds," he said
Concerns over AI in Learning
Dorcas Akintade, a cybersecurity change professional, addressed growing issues concerning using expert system (AI) tools such as ChatGPT and their prospective threats to the academic system.
- She acknowledged the benefits of AI, however, emphasized the requirement for caution in its usage.
- Akintade highlighted the increasing resistance amongst teachers and schools towards integrating AI tools in learning environments. She determined two main reasons 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, forum.altaycoins.com explaining that AI doesn't accommodate particular teaching approaches.
Plagiarism is another issue, as AI pulls from existing data, often without proper attribution
"A lot of people require to understand, 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 information that some other people are fed into it, which in essence means that is another person's paperwork," she warned.
- Additionally, Akintade highlighted an early problem in AI advancement understood as "hallucination," where AI tools would produce info that was not accurate.
"Hallucination indicated that it was drawing out info from the air. If ChatGPT could not get that info from you, it was going to make one up," she discussed.
She advised "grounding" AI by supplying it with specific info to prevent such errors.
Navigating AI in Education
Akintade argued that banning AI tools outright is not the solution, particularly when AI provides an opportunity to leapfrog conventional instructional techniques.
- She thinks that regularly enhancing crucial info assists individuals keep in mind and valetinowiki.racing prevent making errors when faced with obstacles.
"Immersion brings conversion. When you inform individuals the same thing over and over once again, when they will make the mistakes, then they'll keep in mind."
She likewise empasized the requirement for clear policies and treatments within schools, noting that numerous schools should resolve the people and procedure aspects of this use.
- Prof. Nwaogwugwu has turned to in-class tasks and tests to counter AI-driven scholastic dishonesty.
"Now, I generally use tasks to make sure students offer original work." However, he acknowledged that managing large classes makes this method tough.
"If you set intricate questions, students will not be able to use AI to get direct answers," he discussed.
He stressed the need for universities to train speakers on crafting exam questions that AI can not quickly fix while acknowledging that some lecturers battle to counter AI abuse due to a lack of technological awareness. "Some speakers are analogue," he stated.
- Nigeria launched a draft National AI Strategy in August 2024, focusing on ethical AI development with fairness, transparency, responsibility, and 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 fulfill ethical requirements, protect user data, and filter unsuitable material.
- It stresses the need to evaluate the long-term effect of AI on critical abilities like thinking and creativity while developing policies that align with ethical structures. Additionally, UNESCO recommends executing age restrictions for classifieds.ocala-news.com GenAI use to protect more youthful students and protect vulnerable groups.
- For federal governments, it encouraged embracing a coordinated nationwide technique to regulating GenAI, consisting of developing oversight bodies and aligning policies with existing information defense and privacy laws. It stresses evaluating AI dangers, implementing more stringent rules for high-risk applications, and ensuring nationwide information ownership.