Nigerian Students Turn to aI For Tests Answers, Lecturers Raise Alarm
Expert System (AI) is changing education while making finding out more accessible but likewise stimulating disputes on its impact.
While students hail AI tools like ChatGPT for boosting their learning experience, lecturers are raising issues about the growing dependence on AI, which they argue fosters laziness and weakens academic stability, specifically with many trainees unable to safeguard their projects or provided works.
Prof. Isaac Nwaogwugwu, a lecturer at the University of Lagos, in an interview with Nairametrics, revealed frustration over the growing reliance on AI-generated actions amongst students recounting a current experience he had.
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"I offered an assignment to my MBA students, and out of over 100 students, about 40% submitted the specific same answers. These trainees did not even understand each other, however they all utilized the exact same AI tool to produce their responses," he said.
He kept in mind that this pattern prevails among both undergraduate and code.snapstream.com postgraduate students however is particularly worrying in part-time and range learning programs.
"AI is a severe challenge when it pertains to tasks. Many trainees no longer think critically-they just go on the internet, produce responses, and send," he included.
Surprisingly, some speakers are likewise implicated of over-relying on AI, setting a cycle where both educators and trainees turn to AI for benefit instead of intellectual rigor.
This debate raises important 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 nation had actually released policies on generative AI as of July 2023.
Since December 2024, ChatGPT had over 300 million individuals using the AI chatbot weekly and 1 billion messages sent out every day all over the world.
Decline of scholastic rigor
University lecturers are progressively concerned about students submitting AI-generated projects without genuinely comprehending the material.
Dr. Felix Echekoba, a speaker at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, expressed his issues to Nairametrics about trainees significantly depending on ChatGPT, just to have problem with addressing fundamental concerns when checked.
"Many trainees copy from ChatGPT and submit sleek tasks, however when asked fundamental concerns, they go blank. It's disappointing because education is about finding out, not just passing courses," he stated.
- Prof. Nwaogwugwu mentioned that the increasing number of first-rate graduates can not be entirely attributed to AI but admitted that even high-performing students utilize these tools.
"A first-class trainee is a superior trainee, AI or not, however that does not indicate they don't cheat. The benefits of AI may be peripheral, but it is making students dependent and less analytical," he stated.
- Another lecturer, Dr. Ereke, from Ebonyi State University, raised a different concern that some lecturers themselves are guilty of the very same practice.
"It's not simply trainees using AI lazily. Some speakers, out of their own laziness, create lesson notes, course outlines, marking schemes, and even exam concerns with AI without evaluating them. Students in turn utilize AI to produce answers. It's a cycle of laziness and it is killing real knowing," he lamented.
Students' viewpoints on usage
Students, asteroidsathome.net on the other hand, state AI has improved their knowing experience by making scholastic products more understandable and available.
- Eniola Arowosafe, a 300-level Business Administration trainee at Unilag, shared how AI has considerably assisted her knowing by breaking down complex terms and offering summaries of prolonged texts.
"AI helped me understand things more quickly, specifically when handling complicated subjects," she discussed.
However, she recalled a circumstances when she utilized AI to send her job, wikitravel.org only for her speaker 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 superior degree in Pharmacy Technology from the University of Lagos, firmly believes that his academic success wasn't due to any AI tool. He associates his impressive grades to actively appealing by asking concerns and focusing on areas that lecturers stress in class, as they are often reflected in test concerns.
"It's all about existing, focusing, and using the wealth of understanding shared by my colleagues," he said,
- Tunde Awoshita, a final-year marketing student at UNIZIK, admits to occasionally copying directly from ChatGPT when facing numerous due dates.
"To be honest, there are times I copy straight from ChatGPT when I have several due dates, and I understand I'm guilty of that, the majority of times the lecturers do not get to go through them, however AI has actually likewise helped me discover quicker."
Balancing AI's function in education
Experts think the service depends on AI literacy; mentor trainees and forum.batman.gainedge.org speakers how to utilize AI as a knowing aid rather than a shortcut.
- 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 keeps human involvement while utilizing AI to improve learning results.
"As we browse the quickly progressing landscape of Artificial Intelligence (AI), it is essential that we prioritise human company in education. We need to make sure that AI boosts, instead of replaces, educators' vital role in shaping young minds," he said
Concerns over AI in Learning
Dorcas Akintade, a cybersecurity improvement expert, resolved growing concerns concerning the use of expert system (AI) tools such as ChatGPT and their prospective threats to the educational system.
- She acknowledged the benefits of AI, however, stressed the need for care in its usage.
- Akintade highlighted the increasing resistance amongst teachers and schools toward incorporating AI tools in learning environments. She determined 2 main factors why AI tools are prevented in academic settings: security risks and plagiarism. She described that AI tools like ChatGPT are trained to react based on user interactions, which might not line up with the expectations of teachers.
"It is not looking at it as a tutor," Akintade stated, discussing that AI does not accommodate specific mentor approaches.
Plagiarism is another concern, as AI pulls from existing data, frequently without appropriate attribution
"A lot of individuals require to understand, like I said, this is information 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 suggests that is another individual's paperwork," she cautioned.
- Additionally, Akintade highlighted an early problem in AI development referred to as "hallucination," where AI tools would produce info that was not accurate.
"Hallucination suggested that it was drawing out info from the air. If ChatGPT might not get that info from you, it was going to make one up," she explained.
She advised "grounding" AI by providing it with specific info to avoid such errors.
Navigating AI in Education
Akintade argued that banning AI tools outright is not the option, particularly when AI provides a chance to leapfrog standard educational approaches.
- She believes that consistently reinforcing crucial information helps individuals remember and prevent making errors when faced with obstacles.
"Immersion brings conversion. When you tell individuals the same thing over and over once again, when they are about to make the errors, then they'll remember."
She likewise empasized the requirement for clear policies and treatments within schools, keeping in mind that many schools should attend to individuals and procedure elements of this usage.
- Prof. Nwaogwugwu has resorted to in-class assignments and tests to counter AI-driven academic dishonesty.
"Now, I mainly utilize projects to guarantee students supply original work." However, he acknowledged that handling big classes makes this technique difficult.
"If you set complicated questions, students won't be able to use AI to get direct answers," he described.
He stressed the need for universities to train speakers on crafting exam concerns that AI can not easily solve while acknowledging that some lecturers battle to counter AI abuse due to a lack of technological awareness. "Some lecturers are analogue," he said.
- Nigeria released a draft National AI Strategy in August 2024, focusing on ethical AI development with fairness, openness, responsibility, and privacy at its core.
- UNESCO in a report requires the policy of AI in education, encouraging organizations to audit algorithms, information, and outputs of generative AI tools to guarantee they satisfy ethical standards, protect user information, and filter unsuitable material.
- It worries the requirement to assess the long-lasting impact of AI on vital abilities like thinking and imagination while producing policies that align with ethical structures. Additionally, UNESCO advises carrying out age constraints for GenAI use to protect more youthful students and secure susceptible groups.
- For federal governments, photorum.eclat-mauve.fr it recommended adopting a technique to regulating GenAI, including developing oversight bodies and aligning guidelines with existing data security and personal privacy laws. It emphasizes evaluating AI risks, implementing stricter rules for high-risk applications, and ensuring nationwide information ownership.