Nigerian Students Turn to aI For Tests Answers, Lecturers Raise Alarm
Expert System (AI) is changing education while making finding out more available however likewise sparking disputes on its effect.
While trainees hail AI tools like ChatGPT for enhancing their knowing experience, speakers are raising issues about the growing dependence on AI, which they argue fosters laziness and undermines academic stability, specifically with many trainees unable to safeguard their projects 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 responses among students recounting a current experience he had.
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"I offered a project to my MBA trainees, and out of over 100 students, about 40% submitted the specific very same answers. These trainees did not even understand each other, however they all used the very same AI tool to create their responses," he said.
He noted that this pattern prevails among both undergraduate and postgraduate students but is particularly concerning in part-time and distance learning programs.
"AI is a severe challenge when it comes to projects. Many students no longer think critically-they just go online, produce responses, and send," he included.
Surprisingly, some lecturers are likewise implicated of over-relying on AI, setting a cycle where both educators and wiki.myamens.com trainees turn to AI for convenience instead of intellectual rigor.
This argument raises vital questions about the function of AI in academic integrity and trainee advancement.
According to a UNESCO report, while ChatGPT reached 100 million month-to-month active users in January 2023, just one country had actually released guidelines on generative AI since July 2023.
Since December 2024, ChatGPT had over 300 million people using the AI chatbot weekly and 1 billion messages sent every day around the world.
Decline of scholastic rigor
University lecturers are progressively worried about trainees sending AI-generated projects without truly comprehending the material.
Dr. Felix Echekoba, a speaker at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, revealed his concerns to Nairametrics about students increasingly relying on ChatGPT, only to have problem with responding to basic concerns when checked.
"Many students copy from ChatGPT and submit polished assignments, but when asked standard concerns, they go blank. It's disappointing due to the fact that education is about discovering, not simply passing courses," he stated.
- Prof. Nwaogwugwu mentioned that the increasing variety of top-notch graduates can not be entirely credited to AI however confessed that even high-performing students use these tools.
"A superior trainee is a first-rate trainee, AI or not, however that does not imply 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 various issue that some speakers themselves are guilty of the same practice.
"It's not just students using AI lazily. Some lecturers, out of their own laziness, produce lesson notes, course outlines, marking schemes, and even examination questions with AI without examining them. Students in turn utilize AI to create answers. It's a cycle of laziness and it is eliminating real learning," he regreted.
Students' viewpoints on use
Students, on the other hand, state AI has actually improved their learning experience by making scholastic materials more easy to understand and accessible.
- Eniola Arowosafe, a 300-level Business Administration student at Unilag, shared how AI has significantly assisted her knowing by breaking down complex terms and offering summaries of lengthy texts.
"AI assisted me understand things more easily, particularly when dealing with complex subjects," she described.
However, she recalled an instance when she utilized AI to send her task, just for her lecturer to immediately recognize that it was generated by ChatGPT and reject it. Eniola noted that it was a good-bad impact.
- Bryan Okwuba, who just recently graduated with a superior degree in Pharmacy Technology from the University of Lagos, firmly thinks that his scholastic success wasn't due to any AI tool. He associates his exceptional grades to actively engaging by asking concerns and focusing on areas that lecturers stress in class, as they are often shown in exam concerns.
"It's everything about being present, focusing, and taking advantage of the wealth of knowledge shared by my coworkers," he said,
- Tunde Awoshita, a final-year marketing student at UNIZIK, admits to occasionally copying straight from ChatGPT when dealing with numerous due dates.
"To be honest, there are times I copy straight from ChatGPT when I have numerous deadlines, and I know I'm guilty of that, most times the lecturers do not get to review them, however AI has also assisted me find out quicker."
Balancing AI's function in education
Experts think the service lies in AI literacy; teaching students and lecturers how to use AI as a rather than a shortcut.
- Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, highlighted the combination of AI into Nigeria's education system, stressing the importance of a balanced method that maintains human participation while utilizing AI to improve learning results.
"As we navigate the rapidly developing landscape of Expert system (AI), it is essential that we prioritise human firm in education. We need to guarantee that AI boosts, instead of replaces, teachers' essential function in shaping young minds," he stated
Concerns over AI in Learning
Dorcas Akintade, a cybersecurity improvement specialist, resolved growing issues concerning making use of synthetic intelligence (AI) tools such as ChatGPT and their prospective dangers to the educational system.
- She acknowledged the benefits of AI, however, emphasized the need for care in its use.
- Akintade highlighted the increasing hesitance among educators and schools toward incorporating AI tools in discovering environments. She determined 2 main factors why AI tools are discouraged in educational settings: security threats and plagiarism. She described that AI tools like ChatGPT are trained to respond based on user interactions, which may not line up with the expectations of teachers.
"It is not taking a look at it as a tutor," Akintade said, explaining that AI doesn't deal with particular mentor techniques.
Plagiarism is another concern, as AI pulls from existing data, often without appropriate attribution
"A lot of people require to comprehend, like I stated, this is data that has 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 individual's documents," she cautioned.
- Additionally, Akintade highlighted an early concern in AI development referred to as "hallucination," where AI tools would create details that was not accurate.
"Hallucination implied that it was drawing out information from the air. If ChatGPT might not get that information from you, it was going to make one up," she discussed.
She recommended "grounding" AI by supplying it with particular details to avoid such mistakes.
Navigating AI in Education
Akintade argued that banning AI tools outright is not the option, especially when AI presents an opportunity to leapfrog traditional educational approaches.
- She believes that consistently enhancing essential information helps people remember and avoid making mistakes when faced with obstacles.
"Immersion brings conversion. When you inform individuals the same thing over and over again, when they are about to make the mistakes, then they'll keep in mind."
She likewise empasized the need for clear policies and treatments within schools, keeping in mind that many schools need to attend to individuals and procedure aspects of this usage.
- Prof. Nwaogwugwu has actually resorted to in-class assignments and tests to counter AI-driven academic dishonesty.
"Now, I mainly use tasks to guarantee students supply original work." However, he acknowledged that handling large classes makes this approach challenging.
"If you set complex questions, students won't have the ability to use AI to get direct answers," he discussed.
He emphasized the need for kenpoguy.com universities to train speakers on crafting exam questions that AI can not quickly resolve while acknowledging that some speakers struggle to counter AI misuse due to an absence of technological awareness. "Some lecturers are analogue," he said.
- Nigeria launched a draft National AI Strategy in August 2024, focusing on ethical AI development with fairness, openness, accountability, and personal privacy at its core.
- UNESCO in a report requires the guideline of AI in education, encouraging organizations to audit algorithms, information, and outputs of generative AI tools to guarantee they meet ethical standards, protect user data, and filter inappropriate material.
- It worries the need to evaluate the long-lasting effect of AI on crucial abilities like thinking and creativity while producing policies that align with ethical structures. Additionally, UNESCO recommends carrying out age constraints for GenAI usage to safeguard younger students and secure susceptible groups.
- For federal governments, it advised adopting a collaborated nationwide method to regulating GenAI, including establishing oversight bodies and aligning regulations with existing data protection and personal privacy laws. It highlights evaluating AI threats, imposing more stringent guidelines for high-risk applications, and making sure national data ownership.