Nigerian Students Turn to aI For Tests Answers, Lecturers Raise Alarm
Expert System (AI) is revolutionizing education while making finding out more accessible however likewise sparking arguments on its effect.
While students hail AI tools like ChatGPT for boosting their learning experience, lecturers are raising issues about the growing reliance on AI, sitiosecuador.com which they argue fosters laziness and weakens scholastic integrity, particularly with many students not able to safeguard their tasks or provided 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 current experience he had.
RelatedStories
Avoid sharing individual details that can identify you with AI tools- Expert alerts
Chinese AI app DeepSeek sparks global tech selloff, obstacles U.S. AI dominance
"I offered an assignment to my MBA students, and out of over 100 trainees, about 40% submitted the exact very same answers. These trainees did not even know each other, but they all utilized the same AI tool to produce their responses," he stated.
He kept in mind that this pattern is common amongst both undergraduate and suvenir51.ru postgraduate trainees however is specifically worrying in part-time and distance learning programs.
"AI is a serious challenge when it comes to tasks. Many trainees no longer believe critically-they simply go on the internet, generate responses, and send," he included.
Surprisingly, some lecturers are also accused of over-relying on AI, setting a cycle where both teachers and students turn to AI for benefit rather than intellectual rigor.
This dispute raises vital questions about the role of AI in scholastic integrity and trainee advancement.
According to a UNESCO report, while ChatGPT reached 100 million regular monthly active users in January 2023, only one country had actually launched policies on generative AI as of July 2023.
Since December 2024, ChatGPT had more than 300 million people utilizing the AI chatbot each week and 1 billion messages sent out every day all over the world.
Decline of academic rigor
University speakers are increasingly worried about trainees submitting AI-generated tasks without really comprehending the material.
Dr. Felix Echekoba, a speaker at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, users.atw.hu expressed his issues to Nairametrics about trainees progressively relying on ChatGPT, only to struggle with responding to basic questions when checked.
"Many students copy from ChatGPT and send refined tasks, but when asked basic questions, they go blank. It's frustrating due to the fact that education is about learning, not simply passing courses," he said.
- Prof. Nwaogwugwu pointed out that the increasing variety of first-rate graduates can not be entirely associated to AI however admitted that even high-performing students utilize these tools.
"A superior trainee is a superior trainee, AI or not, however that doesn't mean they do not cheat. The benefits of AI may be peripheral, but it is making trainees dependent and less analytical," he said.
- Another speaker, Dr. Ereke, from Ebonyi State University, raised a different issue that some lecturers themselves are guilty of the same practice.
"It's not simply trainees utilizing AI slackly. Some lecturers, out of their own laziness, generate lesson notes, course lays out, marking schemes, and even exam questions with AI without evaluating them. Students in turn utilize AI to generate answers. It's a cycle of laziness and it is eliminating real knowing," he regreted.
Students' viewpoints on usage
Students, on the other hand, say AI has enhanced their knowing experience by making academic materials more understandable 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, particularly when handling complex subjects," she described.
However, she remembered a circumstances when she utilized AI to send her project, just for her lecturer to right away acknowledge that it was produced by ChatGPT and decline it. Eniola noted that it was a good-bad result.
- Bryan Okwuba, who recently finished with a superior degree in Pharmacy Technology from the University of Lagos, securely believes that his scholastic success wasn't due to any AI tool. He associates his impressive grades to actively interesting by asking concerns and concentrating on areas that speakers highlight in class, as they are often reflected in examination questions.
"It's everything about being present, 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 truthful, 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 lecturers do not get to review them, however AI has actually also helped me discover quicker."
Balancing AI's function in education
Experts think the solution lies in AI literacy; teaching students and speakers how to utilize AI as a learning help instead of a shortcut.
- Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, highlighted the integration of AI into Nigeria's education system, worrying the significance of a well balanced method that preserves human involvement while harnessing AI to enhance finding out results.
"As we browse the quickly progressing landscape of Expert system (AI), it is essential that we prioritise human company in education. We should make sure that AI improves, 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 concerns relating to making use of synthetic intelligence (AI) tools such as ChatGPT and their possible threats to the academic system.
- She acknowledged the benefits of AI, however, emphasized the need for care in its use.
- Akintade highlighted the increasing resistance among educators and schools toward including AI tools in discovering environments. She recognized two main reasons that AI tools are dissuaded in instructional settings: security dangers and plagiarism. She discussed that AI tools like ChatGPT are trained to respond based on user interactions, which may not align with the expectations of educators.
"It is not looking at it as a tutor," Akintade stated, explaining that AI doesn't deal with particular teaching methods.
Plagiarism is another issue, as AI pulls from existing data, frequently without appropriate attribution
"A lot of individuals require to comprehend, like I said, this is data that has been trained on. It is not just bringing things out from the sky. It's bringing information that some other individuals are fed into it, which in essence indicates that is another individual's documents," she warned.
- Additionally, Akintade highlighted an early problem in AI development understood as "hallucination," where AI tools would produce information that was not factual.
"Hallucination suggested that it was bringing out information from the air. If ChatGPT might not get that information from you, it was going to make one up," she explained.
She suggested "grounding" AI by providing it with specific information to prevent such errors.
Navigating AI in Education
Akintade argued that banning AI tools outright is not the solution, especially when AI provides a chance to leapfrog traditional academic approaches.
- She thinks that consistently strengthening essential details helps people remember and prevent making errors when faced with obstacles.
"Immersion brings conversion. When you inform people the same thing over and over once again, when they will make the mistakes, then they'll keep in mind."
She also empasized the requirement for clear policies and procedures within schools, noting that lots of schools need to deal with individuals and process aspects of this use.
- Prof. Nwaogwugwu has resorted to in-class projects and tests to counter AI-driven scholastic dishonesty.
"Now, I generally utilize tasks to ensure trainees offer original work." However, he acknowledged that handling large classes makes this method hard.
"If you set complex questions, trainees will not have the ability to utilize AI to get direct responses," he explained.
He highlighted the need for universities to train lecturers on crafting exam questions that AI can not quickly fix while acknowledging that some speakers struggle to counter AI abuse due to an absence of technological awareness. "Some speakers are analogue," he said.
- Nigeria launched a draft National AI Strategy in August 2024, concentrating on ethical AI development with fairness, openness, accountability, and privacy at its core.
- UNESCO in a report requires the policy of AI in education, encouraging institutions to audit algorithms, data, and outputs of AI tools to ensure they meet ethical standards, secure user information, and filter inappropriate content.
- It stresses the requirement to assess the long-lasting impact of AI on critical abilities like believing and creativity while creating policies that align with ethical structures. Additionally, UNESCO suggests implementing age restrictions for GenAI usage to protect more youthful trainees and protect susceptible groups.
- For federal governments, it recommended embracing a collaborated nationwide method to regulating GenAI, including establishing oversight bodies and lining up policies with existing information security and personal privacy laws. It stresses examining AI threats, enforcing more stringent guidelines for high-risk applications, and guaranteeing national information ownership.