About Us

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

Expert System (AI) is revolutionizing education while making finding out more available but also stimulating arguments on its effect.

While students hail AI tools like ChatGPT for boosting their knowing experience, lecturers are raising issues about the growing dependence on AI, which they argue fosters laziness and undermines academic stability, asteroidsathome.net particularly with lots of students unable to defend their tasks 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 reactions amongst students stating a recent experience he had.

RelatedStories

Avoid sharing personal info that can recognize you with AI tools- Expert cautions

Chinese AI app DeepSeek sparks international tech selloff, challenges U.S. AI dominance

“I gave a task to my MBA trainees, and out of over 100 students, about 40% sent the exact same answers. These students did not even know each other, however they all utilized the very same AI tool to generate their actions,” he said.

He noted that this trend is widespread among both undergraduate and postgraduate trainees but is particularly concerning in part-time and range learning programs.

“AI is a serious difficulty when it pertains to assignments. Many trainees no longer think critically-they just go on the internet, create responses, and send,” he included.

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 vital concerns about the function of AI in academic stability and student advancement.

According to a UNESCO report, while ChatGPT reached 100 million month-to-month active users in January 2023, just one country had launched policies on generative AI since July 2023.

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

Decline of academic rigor

University lecturers are increasingly worried about trainees sending AI-generated assignments without really comprehending the content.

Dr. Felix Echekoba, a speaker at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, revealed his concerns to Nairametrics about students increasingly depending on ChatGPT, only to battle with responding to basic questions when checked.

“Many trainees copy from ChatGPT and submit polished tasks, but when asked basic questions, they go blank. It’s disappointing since education is about learning, not simply passing courses,” he stated.

– Prof. Nwaogwugwu explained that the increasing variety of first-class graduates can not be entirely attributed to AI but admitted that even high-performing trainees use these tools.

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

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

“It’s not just students using AI lazily. Some lecturers, out of their own laziness, produce lesson notes, course describes, marking schemes, and even examination questions with AI without reviewing them. Students in turn utilize AI to create responses. It’s a cycle of laziness and it is eliminating real learning,” he regreted.

Students’ point of views on use

Students, on the other hand, say AI has actually enhanced their learning experience by making academic materials more easy to understand and available.

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

“AI helped me comprehend things more quickly, especially when dealing with complicated topics,” she discussed.

However, she recalled an instance when she utilized AI to submit her project, only for her speaker to immediately recognize that it was generated by ChatGPT and decline it. Eniola noted that it was a good-bad effect.

– Bryan Okwuba, who 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 concentrating on areas that speakers highlight in class, as they are often shown in exam concerns.

“It’s all about being present, taking note, and tapping into the wealth of understanding shared by my coworkers,” he said,

– Tunde Awoshita, a final-year marketing trainee at UNIZIK, confesses to occasionally copying straight from ChatGPT when facing numerous deadlines.

“To be sincere, there are times I copy directly from ChatGPT when I have numerous deadlines, and I understand I’m guilty of that, the majority of times the lecturers don’t get to read through them, but AI has actually likewise helped me discover much faster.”

Balancing AI‘s function in education

Experts believe the service depends on AI literacy; teaching students and lecturers how to use AI as a knowing help rather than a faster way.

– Minister of Education, 35.237.164.2 Dr. Tunji Alausa, highlighted the combination of AI into Nigeria’s education system, historydb.date worrying the value of a well balanced technique that maintains human participation while harnessing AI to enhance learning outcomes.

“As we browse the quickly developing landscape of Expert system (AI), it is vital that we prioritise human firm in education. We must guarantee that AI improves, instead of changes, educators’ crucial role in forming young minds,” he stated

Concerns over AI in Learning

Dorcas Akintade, a cybersecurity improvement professional, resolved growing issues concerning making use of synthetic intelligence (AI) tools such as ChatGPT and their prospective dangers to the academic system.

– She acknowledged the benefits of AI, wiki.tld-wars.space however, emphasized the requirement for care in its use.

– Akintade highlighted the increasing resistance among educators and schools towards incorporating AI tools in finding out environments. She identified two primary reasons AI tools are dissuaded in educational settings: wiki.dulovic.tech 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 does not accommodate particular teaching approaches.

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

“A lot of people need to understand, like I said, this is data that has actually been trained on. It is not simply bringing things out from the sky. It’s bringing information that some other individuals are fed into it, which in essence means that is another person’s paperwork,” she cautioned.

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

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

She suggested “grounding” AI by offering it with specific details to prevent such mistakes.

Navigating AI in Education

Akintade argued that prohibiting AI tools outright is not the service, particularly when AI presents an opportunity to leapfrog standard instructional methods.

– She believes that consistently enhancing crucial details assists individuals remember and prevent making mistakes when faced with obstacles.

“Immersion brings conversion. When you tell individuals the very same thing over and over again, when they will make the mistakes, then they’ll remember.”

She also empasized the requirement for clear policies and treatments within schools, noting that many schools should address the people and kenpoguy.com procedure aspects of this usage.

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

“Now, I primarily utilize tasks to guarantee trainees provide initial work.” However, wiki.rolandradio.net he acknowledged that handling large classes makes this approach challenging.

“If you set intricate concerns, trainees will not have the ability to use AI to get direct responses,” he explained.

He emphasized the requirement for universities to train lecturers on crafting examination questions that AI can not quickly resolve while acknowledging that some speakers struggle to counter AI abuse due to an absence of technological awareness. “Some lecturers are analogue,” he stated.

– Nigeria launched 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 calls for the guideline of AI in education, advising organizations to investigate algorithms, data, and outputs of generative AI tools to ensure they satisfy ethical standards, secure user information, and filter improper material.

– It worries the need to evaluate the long-lasting impact of AI on crucial skills like believing and imagination while producing policies that align with ethical structures. Additionally, UNESCO advises carrying out age limitations for GenAI usage to secure younger students and secure vulnerable groups.
– For federal governments, it recommended embracing a collaborated national approach to regulating GenAI, including establishing oversight bodies and aligning regulations with existing data defense and privacy laws. It stresses assessing AI risks, implementing more stringent rules for high-risk applications, and ensuring national data ownership.