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

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming education while making discovering more accessible but also sparking disputes on its effect.

While students hail AI tools like ChatGPT for boosting their knowing experience, speakers are raising concerns about the growing dependence on AI, which they argue fosters laziness and weakens academic integrity, especially with many students unable to protect their tasks or offered works.

Prof. Isaac Nwaogwugwu, a speaker at the University of Lagos, in an interview with Nairametrics, expressed disappointment over the growing reliance on AI-generated reactions among trainees stating a recent 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 very same answers. These trainees did not even know each other, however they all utilized the exact same AI tool to produce their actions,“ he said.

He kept in mind that this trend is prevalent amongst both undergraduate and postgraduate students however is particularly worrying in part-time and distance learning programs.

„AI is a serious obstacle when it comes to tasks. Many students no longer think critically-they just go online, produce answers, and send,“ he added.

Surprisingly, some lecturers are likewise implicated of over-relying on AI, setting a cycle where both teachers and students turn to AI for benefit instead of intellectual rigor.

This argument raises crucial questions about the role of AI in scholastic stability and student advancement.

According to a UNESCO report, opensourcebridge.science while ChatGPT reached 100 million monthly active users in January 2023, just one country had actually released policies on generative AI as of July 2023.

As of December 2024, ChatGPT had more than 300 million individuals utilizing the AI chatbot weekly and 1 billion messages sent every day around the world.

Decline of scholastic rigor

University lecturers are significantly worried about students sending AI-generated projects without truly comprehending the material.

Dr. Felix Echekoba, a lecturer at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, expressed his issues to Nairametrics about students increasingly depending on ChatGPT, only to battle with responding to standard concerns when tested.

„Many students copy from ChatGPT and submit sleek assignments, however when asked standard questions, they go blank. It’s disappointing since education has to do with finding out, not just passing courses,“ he said.

– Prof. Nwaogwugwu pointed out that the increasing number of first-class graduates can not be entirely credited to AI but admitted that even high-performing students use these tools.

„A superior student is a superior trainee, AI or not, however that does not suggest they do not cheat. The benefits of AI may be peripheral, but it is making students reliant and less analytical,“ he said.

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

„It’s not just trainees utilizing AI lazily. Some lecturers, out of their own laziness, generate lesson notes, course lays out, marking schemes, and even test concerns with AI without examining them. Students in turn use AI to create responses. It’s a cycle of laziness and it is killing real learning,“ he lamented.

Students’ point of views on use

Students, on the other hand, state AI has improved their learning experience by making academic materials more understandable and available.

– 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 prolonged texts.

„AI helped me comprehend things more easily, particularly when handling intricate subjects,“ she discussed.

However, she recalled an instance when she used AI to submit her task, just for her speaker to right away acknowledge 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 first-class degree in Pharmacy Technology from the University of Lagos, firmly believes 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 speakers highlight in class, as they are frequently reflected in examination concerns.

„It’s all about existing, paying attention, and tapping into the wealth of knowledge shared by my coworkers,“ he stated,

– Tunde Awoshita, a final-year marketing student at UNIZIK, admits to periodically copying directly from ChatGPT when dealing with numerous deadlines.

„To be honest, there are times I copy straight from ChatGPT when I have multiple deadlines, and I understand I’m guilty of that, most times the lecturers do not get to go through them, but AI has also assisted me find out quicker.“

Balancing AI‘s function in education

Experts believe the service lies in AI literacy; teaching trainees and 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 balanced technique that maintains human participation while harnessing AI to enhance finding out results.

„As we navigate the rapidly evolving landscape of Artificial Intelligence (AI), it is essential that we prioritise human company in education. We should guarantee that AI enhances, instead of replaces, educators’ crucial function in forming young minds,“ he stated

Concerns over AI in Learning

Dorcas Akintade, a cybersecurity change expert, dealt with growing issues concerning using artificial intelligence (AI) tools such as ChatGPT and their potential risks to the educational system.

– She acknowledged the advantages of AI, however, stressed the need for thatswhathappened.wiki caution in its use.

– Akintade highlighted the increasing resistance among teachers and schools towards including AI tools in discovering environments. She determined two primary reasons AI tools are dissuaded in instructional settings: security risks and plagiarism. She explained that AI tools like ChatGPT are trained to respond based on user interactions, which may not align with the expectations of teachers.

„It is not taking a look at it as a tutor,“ Akintade said, explaining that AI doesn’t cater to particular mentor methods.

Plagiarism is another issue, as AI pulls from existing information, trade-britanica.trade typically without proper attribution

„A lot of individuals 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 individuals are fed into it, which in essence implies that is another person’s documentation,“ she cautioned.

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

„Hallucination meant that it was drawing out info from the air. If ChatGPT could not get that details from you, it was going to make one up,“ she discussed.

She recommended „grounding“ AI by providing it with particular details to prevent such mistakes.

Navigating AI in Education

Akintade argued that banning AI tools outright is not the service, especially when AI provides an opportunity to leapfrog traditional educational techniques.

– She thinks that regularly reinforcing crucial info assists people keep in mind and prevent making mistakes when confronted with challenges.

„Immersion brings conversion. When you tell individuals the exact same thing over and over again, when they will make the errors, then they’ll keep in mind.“

She also empasized the need for clear policies and treatments within schools, keeping in mind that many schools need to attend to the individuals and procedure aspects of this usage.

– Prof. Nwaogwugwu has turned to in-class projects and tests to counter AI-driven scholastic dishonesty.

„Now, I mainly utilize projects to make sure trainees supply original work.“ However, he acknowledged that handling large classes makes this method challenging.

„If you set complicated concerns, students will not be able to use AI to get direct responses,“ he described.

He emphasized the requirement for universities to train speakers on crafting test questions that AI can not easily solve while acknowledging that some lecturers battle to counter AI misuse due to a lack of technological awareness. „Some speakers are analogue,“ he said.

– Nigeria released a draft National AI Strategy in August 2024, focusing on ethical AI advancement with fairness, transparency, responsibility, and privacy at its core.

– UNESCO in a report calls for the guideline of AI in education, encouraging organizations to audit algorithms, data, and outputs of generative AI tools to guarantee they meet ethical requirements, secure user data, and filter improper content.

– It worries the need to examine the long-term effect of AI on critical abilities like believing and imagination while creating policies that align with ethical structures. Additionally, UNESCO advises implementing age restrictions for GenAI usage to secure younger students and secure susceptible groups.
– For federal governments, it advised adopting a collaborated nationwide approach to managing GenAI, consisting of establishing oversight bodies and lining up policies with existing information and personal privacy laws. It stresses assessing AI threats, enforcing stricter rules for high-risk applications, and ensuring national information ownership.