Nigerian Students Turn to aI For Tests Answers, Lecturers Raise Alarm
Expert System (AI) is changing education while making discovering more available however likewise triggering disputes on its impact.
While trainees hail AI tools like ChatGPT for improving their knowing experience, speakers are raising concerns about the growing reliance on AI, which they argue fosters laziness and weakens academic integrity, asteroidsathome.net specifically with numerous trainees not able to safeguard their assignments or provided works.
Prof. Isaac Nwaogwugwu, a speaker at the University of Lagos, in an interview with Nairametrics, revealed frustration over the growing reliance on AI-generated actions among trainees stating a current experience he had.
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"I provided an assignment to my MBA students, and out of over 100 students, about 40% submitted the precise very same answers. These trainees did not even understand each other, but they all used the very same AI tool to create their responses," he stated.
He kept in mind that this trend prevails amongst both undergraduate and postgraduate trainees but is specifically concerning in part-time and distance knowing programs.
"AI is a major challenge when it concerns assignments. Many trainees no longer think critically-they simply browse the web, produce answers, and send," he included.
Surprisingly, some lecturers are likewise 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 crucial 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, asteroidsathome.net only one nation had launched regulations on generative AI as of July 2023.
Since December 2024, ChatGPT had more than 300 million individuals utilizing the AI chatbot weekly and oke.zone 1 billion messages sent out every day all over the world.
Decline of academic rigor
University lecturers are increasingly concerned about students submitting AI-generated assignments without genuinely understanding the content.
Dr. Felix Echekoba, a speaker at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, revealed his issues to Nairametrics about trainees progressively counting on ChatGPT, only to fight with responding to basic concerns when evaluated.
"Many trainees copy from ChatGPT and submit sleek projects, however when asked fundamental concerns, they go blank. It's frustrating because education has to do with learning, not simply passing courses," he stated.
- Prof. Nwaogwugwu pointed out that the increasing number of superior graduates can not be totally credited to AI however admitted that even high-performing students use these tools.
"A superior trainee is a first-class trainee, AI or not, however that does not mean they don't cheat. The advantages of AI may be peripheral, however it is making trainees dependent and less analytical," he said.
- Another speaker, Dr. Ereke, from Ebonyi State University, raised a various issue that some speakers themselves are guilty of the very same practice.
"It's not just trainees utilizing AI lazily. Some speakers, out of their own laziness, generate lesson notes, course details, marking schemes, and even test concerns with AI without evaluating them. Students in turn utilize AI to create responses. It's a cycle of laziness and it is eliminating genuine learning," he lamented.
Students' perspectives on usage
Students, on the other hand, state AI has actually improved their learning experience by making academic materials more reasonable and available.
- Eniola Arowosafe, a 300-level Business Administration student at Unilag, shared how AI has actually significantly helped her learning by breaking down complex terms and supplying summaries of lengthy texts.
"AI assisted me understand things more quickly, especially when handling complex subjects," she explained.
However, she remembered an instance when she utilized AI to submit her task, just for her speaker to right away recognize that it was created by ChatGPT and reject 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, strongly thinks that his academic success wasn't due to any AI tool. He attributes his impressive grades to actively interesting by asking questions and focusing on locations that speakers highlight in class, as they are often reflected in test concerns.
"It's all about existing, paying attention, and tapping into the wealth of understanding shared by my colleagues," he stated,
- Tunde Awoshita, a final-year marketing trainee at UNIZIK, admits to occasionally copying straight from ChatGPT when facing numerous deadlines.
"To be sincere, there are times I copy directly from ChatGPT when I have several due dates, and I know I'm guilty of that, a lot of times the lecturers don't get to check out through them, however AI has also assisted me find out faster."
Balancing AI's function in education
Experts think the option depends on AI literacy; teaching students and townshipmarket.co.za speakers how to utilize AI as a knowing help rather than a shortcut.
- Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, highlighted the combination of AI into Nigeria's education system, stressing the significance of a well balanced technique that preserves human participation while utilizing AI to enhance finding out results.
"As we navigate the quickly progressing landscape of Expert system (AI), it is important that we prioritise human agency in education. We need to make sure that AI enhances, instead of changes, educators' vital role in forming young minds," he stated
Concerns over AI in Learning
Dorcas Akintade, a cybersecurity improvement professional, resolved growing concerns concerning the usage of expert system (AI) tools such as ChatGPT and their possible threats to the educational system.
- She acknowledged the benefits of AI, however, highlighted the need for care in its usage.
- Akintade highlighted the increasing resistance among teachers and schools towards incorporating AI tools in learning environments. She determined 2 primary factors why AI tools are dissuaded in educational settings: security risks and plagiarism. She explained that AI tools like ChatGPT are trained to react based upon user interactions, which may not line up with the expectations of educators.
"It is not looking at it as a tutor," Akintade stated, lovewiki.faith explaining that AI doesn't cater to particular teaching techniques.
Plagiarism is another issue, as AI pulls from existing information, often without appropriate attribution
"A great deal of people need to understand, like I said, this is information that has 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 suggests that is another person's paperwork," she warned.
- Additionally, Akintade highlighted an early issue in AI development understood as "hallucination," where AI tools would generate information that was not factual.
"Hallucination implied that it was bringing out info from the air. If ChatGPT might not get that information from you, it was going to make one up," she discussed.
She advised "grounding" AI by offering it with particular info to prevent such mistakes.
Navigating AI in Education
Akintade argued that prohibiting AI tools outright is not the option, particularly when AI provides a chance to leapfrog standard instructional approaches.
- She thinks that consistently strengthening key details assists people remember and avoid making mistakes when confronted with obstacles.
"Immersion brings conversion. When you inform people the very same thing over and over once again, when they are about to make the errors, then they'll keep in mind."
She likewise empasized the need for clear policies and treatments within schools, noting that many schools should attend to the individuals and procedure elements of this use.
- Prof. Nwaogwugwu has actually resorted to in-class tasks and tests to counter AI-driven scholastic dishonesty.
"Now, I primarily utilize tasks to ensure students provide initial work." However, he acknowledged that managing big classes makes this method hard.
"If you set intricate concerns, trainees will not be able to use AI to get direct answers," he discussed.
He highlighted the need for universities to train lecturers on crafting exam questions that AI can not quickly fix while acknowledging that some lecturers battle to counter AI misuse due to an absence 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, openness, responsibility, and personal privacy at its core.
- UNESCO in a report calls for the regulation of AI in education, recommending institutions to audit algorithms, data, and outputs of generative AI tools to guarantee they fulfill ethical requirements, secure user data, and filter inappropriate content.
- It stresses the requirement to examine the long-lasting effect of AI on important skills like thinking and creativity while creating policies that line up with ethical frameworks. Additionally, UNESCO advises implementing age restrictions for GenAI usage to protect more youthful students and secure vulnerable groups.
- For federal governments, it recommended adopting a collaborated national approach to regulating GenAI, consisting of developing oversight bodies and aligning regulations with existing information defense and privacy laws. It examining AI dangers, enforcing stricter rules for high-risk applications, and making sure national data ownership.