Nigerian Students Turn to aI For Tests Answers, Lecturers Raise Alarm
Expert System (AI) is transforming education while making learning more accessible however likewise sparking debates 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 scholastic integrity, especially with many trainees not able to protect their projects or provided works.
Prof. Isaac Nwaogwugwu, forum.altaycoins.com a lecturer at the University of Lagos, in an interview with Nairametrics, expressed aggravation over the growing reliance on AI-generated actions amongst trainees recounting a current experience he had.
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"I offered a task to my MBA trainees, and out of over 100 trainees, about 40% sent the specific same answers. These trainees did not even understand each other, however they all used the exact same AI tool to create their responses," he stated.
He kept in mind that this pattern is widespread amongst both undergraduate and postgraduate trainees but is specifically worrying in part-time and distance knowing programs.
"AI is a severe difficulty when it pertains to projects. Many students no longer believe critically-they simply browse the web, create responses, and send," he added.
Surprisingly, some speakers are also accused of over-relying on AI, setting a cycle where both educators and trainees turn to AI for benefit instead of intellectual rigor.
This argument raises vital concerns about the role of AI in academic integrity and trainee advancement.
According to a UNESCO report, gdprhub.eu while ChatGPT reached 100 million regular monthly active users in January 2023, only one nation had released regulations on generative AI as of July 2023.
As of December 2024, ChatGPT had more than 300 million people utilizing the AI chatbot every week and 1 billion messages sent out every day all over the world.
Decline of scholastic rigor
University lecturers are significantly worried about students submitting AI-generated tasks without genuinely comprehending the material.
Dr. Felix Echekoba, a speaker at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, revealed his concerns to Nairametrics about students increasingly depending on ChatGPT, just to fight with responding to fundamental questions when checked.
"Many students copy from ChatGPT and submit refined projects, but when asked fundamental concerns, they go blank. It's frustrating because education is about finding out, not simply passing courses," he stated.
- Prof. Nwaogwugwu mentioned that the increasing number of top-notch graduates can not be completely credited to AI however confessed that even high-performing students use these tools.
"A first-rate trainee is a first-class student, AI or not, however that does not indicate they don't cheat. The benefits of AI may be peripheral, but it is making trainees dependent and less analytical," he stated.
- Another speaker, Dr. Ereke, from Ebonyi State University, raised a different concern that some lecturers themselves are guilty of the exact same practice.
"It's not just trainees utilizing AI lazily. Some speakers, out of their own laziness, produce lesson notes, course outlines, marking schemes, and even test questions with AI without evaluating them. Students in turn utilize AI to generate responses. It's a cycle of laziness and it is killing real learning," he regreted.
Students' point of views on usage
Students, on the other hand, state AI has actually enhanced their learning experience by making scholastic products more understandable and .
- Eniola Arowosafe, a 300-level Business Administration student at Unilag, shared how AI has significantly helped her learning by breaking down complex terms and supplying summaries of lengthy texts.
"AI assisted me comprehend things more easily, especially when dealing with intricate topics," she discussed.
However, she recalled a circumstances when she used AI to send her project, only 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 impact.
- Bryan Okwuba, who recently graduated with a first-rate degree in Pharmacy Technology from the University of Lagos, strongly thinks that his scholastic success wasn't due to any AI tool. He associates his outstanding grades to actively engaging by asking concerns and galgbtqhistoryproject.org concentrating on areas that lecturers stress in class, as they are typically reflected in test concerns.
"It's all about existing, taking note, and using the wealth of knowledge shared by my coworkers," he said,
- Tunde Awoshita, a final-year marketing student at UNIZIK, confesses to sometimes copying directly from ChatGPT when facing multiple deadlines.
"To be honest, there are times I copy straight from ChatGPT when I have numerous deadlines, and I understand I'm guilty of that, most times the lecturers do not get to review them, but AI has actually likewise helped me learn much faster."
Balancing AI's function in education
Experts believe the option lies in AI literacy; mentor trainees and lecturers how to utilize AI as a knowing help instead of a faster way.
- Minister of Education, asystechnik.com Dr. Tunji Alausa, highlighted the integration of AI into Nigeria's education system, stressing the importance of a balanced method that keeps human participation while harnessing AI to enhance discovering results.
"As we navigate the rapidly progressing landscape of Expert system (AI), it is vital that we prioritise human agency in education. We need to make sure that AI boosts, instead of changes, educators' crucial function in shaping young minds," he said
Concerns over AI in Learning
Dorcas Akintade, a cybersecurity transformation professional, addressed growing issues relating to the use of expert system (AI) tools such as ChatGPT and their possible threats to the educational system.
- She acknowledged the benefits of AI, nevertheless, stressed the need for caution in its usage.
- Akintade highlighted the increasing resistance amongst teachers and gratisafhalen.be schools towards incorporating AI tools in discovering environments. She determined two main factors why AI tools are discouraged in educational settings: security dangers and plagiarism. She described that AI tools like ChatGPT are trained to react based upon user interactions, which may not align with the expectations of educators.
"It is not looking at it as a tutor," Akintade said, discussing that AI does not deal with particular teaching techniques.
Plagiarism is another concern, as AI pulls from existing data, often without correct attribution
"A great deal of people require to comprehend, like I stated, this is data that has actually been trained on. It is not simply 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 issue in AI advancement referred to as "hallucination," where AI tools would generate info that was not accurate.
"Hallucination suggested that it was highlighting info from the air. If ChatGPT might not get that details from you, it was going to make one up," she discussed.
She suggested "grounding" AI by providing it with particular info to prevent such errors.
Navigating AI in Education
Akintade argued that prohibiting AI tools outright is not the solution, particularly when AI presents a chance to leapfrog conventional academic techniques.
- She believes that regularly enhancing essential information assists individuals keep in mind and prevent making errors when confronted with obstacles.
"Immersion brings conversion. When you inform people the exact same thing over and over again, when they are about to make the errors, then they'll keep in mind."
She likewise empasized the need for clear policies and procedures within schools, noting that lots of schools must deal with individuals and process aspects of this usage.
- Prof. Nwaogwugwu has resorted to in-class tasks and tests to counter AI-driven scholastic dishonesty.
"Now, I generally utilize projects to ensure trainees provide initial work." However, he acknowledged that managing large classes makes this method difficult.
"If you set complicated questions, students won't be able to use AI to get direct responses," he discussed.
He stressed the need for universities to train lecturers on crafting examination concerns that AI can not easily solve while acknowledging that some lecturers battle 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, concentrating on ethical AI advancement with fairness, transparency, king-wifi.win responsibility, and personal privacy at its core.
- UNESCO in a report requires the regulation of AI in education, advising organizations to investigate algorithms, data, and outputs of generative AI tools to ensure they fulfill ethical requirements, secure user data, and filter unsuitable material.
- It stresses the need to assess the long-term effect of AI on critical skills like thinking and creativity while developing policies that align with ethical frameworks. Additionally, UNESCO suggests executing age limitations for pattern-wiki.win GenAI usage to protect younger trainees and secure vulnerable groups.
- For federal governments, it advised adopting a collaborated nationwide method to managing GenAI, including developing oversight bodies and lining up regulations with existing data protection and privacy laws. It stresses assessing AI threats, enforcing stricter guidelines for high-risk applications, and making sure nationwide data ownership.