Nigerian Students Turn to aI For Tests Answers, Lecturers Raise Alarm
Expert System (AI) is revolutionizing education while making finding out more available however likewise sparking disputes on its effect.
While students hail AI tools like ChatGPT for improving their knowing experience, lecturers are raising concerns about the growing reliance on AI, which they argue fosters laziness and undermines scholastic stability, especially with many trainees not able to protect their projects or offered works.
Prof. Isaac Nwaogwugwu, a speaker at the University of Lagos, in an interview with Nairametrics, revealed disappointment over the growing reliance on AI-generated reactions among students stating a current experience he had.
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"I provided a project to my MBA students, and out of over 100 students, about 40% submitted the specific very same answers. These trainees did not even know each other, but they all used the same AI tool to produce their responses," he stated.
He kept in mind that this trend prevails amongst both undergraduate and postgraduate students however is especially worrying in part-time and distance knowing programs.
"AI is a major challenge when it concerns tasks. Many trainees no longer believe critically-they simply browse the web, generate responses, and send," he included.
Surprisingly, some speakers are likewise accused of over-relying on AI, setting a cycle where both teachers and students turn to AI for convenience rather than intellectual rigor.
This argument raises vital questions about the function of AI in scholastic stability and student advancement.
According to a UNESCO report, while ChatGPT reached 100 million regular monthly active users in January 2023, only one nation had actually launched regulations on generative AI since July 2023.
As of December 2024, ChatGPT had over 300 million people utilizing the AI chatbot weekly and 1 billion messages sent every day around the globe.
Decline of scholastic rigor
University lecturers are significantly concerned about students submitting AI-generated projects without really comprehending the material.
Dr. Felix Echekoba, a lecturer at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, expressed his issues to Nairametrics about trainees increasingly relying on ChatGPT, just to have problem with responding to standard concerns when checked.
"Many students copy from ChatGPT and send sleek tasks, but when asked basic concerns, they go blank. It's disappointing because education is about finding out, not simply passing courses," he said.
- Prof. Nwaogwugwu explained that the increasing variety of first-rate graduates can not be totally attributed to AI however admitted that even high-performing trainees utilize these tools.
"A first-rate trainee is a superior student, AI or not, however that doesn't indicate they don't cheat. The advantages of AI might be peripheral, but it is making trainees reliant and less analytical," he stated.
- Another speaker, Dr. Ereke, from Ebonyi State University, raised a different issue that some lecturers themselves are guilty of the very same practice.
"It's not simply students using AI slackly. Some lecturers, out of their own laziness, produce lesson notes, course lays out, marking schemes, and even examination concerns with AI without evaluating them. Students in turn utilize AI to create answers. It's a cycle of laziness and it is killing real learning," he lamented.
Students' viewpoints on usage
Students, on the other hand, say AI has actually improved their learning experience by making academic products more understandable and available.
- Eniola Arowosafe, a 300-level Business Administration trainee at Unilag, shared how AI has actually substantially assisted her knowing by breaking down complex terms and providing summaries of prolonged texts.
"AI assisted me understand things more easily, particularly when handling intricate topics," she explained.
However, she remembered an instance when she utilized AI to submit her job, just for her lecturer to immediately recognize that it was generated by and reject it. Eniola kept in mind that it was a good-bad impact.
- Bryan Okwuba, who recently graduated with a top-notch degree in Pharmacy Technology from the University of Lagos, firmly thinks that his scholastic success wasn't due to any AI tool. He associates his outstanding grades to actively appealing by asking concerns and focusing on locations that speakers emphasize in class, as they are frequently reflected in exam questions.
"It's all about existing, focusing, and taking advantage of the wealth of knowledge shared by my colleagues," he said,
- Tunde Awoshita, gratisafhalen.be a final-year marketing student at UNIZIK, confesses to occasionally copying directly 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 understand I'm guilty of that, a lot of times the speakers do not get to check out them, but AI has likewise assisted me discover quicker."
Balancing AI's role in education
Experts believe the option lies in AI literacy; mentor trainees and speakers how to use AI as a knowing aid rather than a faster way.
- Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, highlighted the combination of AI into Nigeria's education system, worrying the significance of a well balanced method that preserves human involvement while utilizing AI to improve discovering outcomes.
"As we browse the quickly progressing landscape of Expert system (AI), it is crucial that we prioritise human company in education. We should make sure that AI improves, rather than changes, educators' vital function in shaping young minds," he said
Concerns over AI in Learning
Dorcas Akintade, a cybersecurity change expert, dealt with growing concerns relating to the usage of expert system (AI) tools such as ChatGPT and thatswhathappened.wiki their possible threats to the academic system.
- She acknowledged the advantages of AI, however, oke.zone emphasized the need for caution in its usage.
- Akintade highlighted the increasing hesitance among teachers and schools towards including AI tools in learning environments. She determined 2 primary reasons that AI tools are discouraged in educational settings: security risks 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, discussing that AI doesn't accommodate specific teaching approaches.
Plagiarism is another concern, as AI pulls from existing data, often without proper attribution
"A lot of people need to understand, like I said, this is data that has been trained on. It is not just bringing things out from the sky. It's bringing info 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 called "hallucination," where AI tools would produce information that was not factual.
"Hallucination implied that it was drawing out details from the air. If ChatGPT might not get that information from you, it was going to make one up," she discussed.
She suggested "grounding" AI by offering it with particular details to avoid 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 standard instructional approaches.
- She believes that regularly enhancing essential information helps individuals keep in mind and prevent making errors when confronted with challenges.
"Immersion brings conversion. When you inform people the exact same thing over and over again, when they will make the mistakes, then they'll keep in mind."
She likewise empasized the need for clear policies and treatments within schools, keeping in mind that many schools ought to deal with individuals and procedure elements of this usage.
- Prof. Nwaogwugwu has actually resorted to in-class assignments and tests to counter AI-driven scholastic dishonesty.
"Now, I mainly utilize assignments to guarantee students supply original work." However, he acknowledged that handling large classes makes this approach challenging.
"If you set intricate concerns, students won't have the ability to utilize AI to get direct answers," he described.
He emphasized the need for universities to train lecturers on crafting exam concerns that AI can not easily resolve while acknowledging that some speakers struggle to counter AI abuse due to a lack of technological awareness. "Some speakers are analogue," he stated.
- Nigeria launched a draft National AI Strategy in August 2024, focusing on ethical AI development with fairness, openness, responsibility, and personal privacy at its core.
- UNESCO in a report requires the guideline of AI in education, advising institutions to audit algorithms, chessdatabase.science information, and outputs of generative AI tools to guarantee they meet ethical standards, safeguard user information, and filter inappropriate material.
- It worries the requirement to evaluate the long-term impact of AI on crucial skills like believing and creativity while developing policies that line up with ethical frameworks. Additionally, UNESCO suggests implementing age constraints for GenAI use to safeguard younger trainees and secure vulnerable groups.
- For federal governments, it advised embracing a coordinated nationwide technique to managing GenAI, including establishing oversight bodies and wavedream.wiki aligning regulations with existing data protection and privacy laws. It stresses examining AI risks, implementing more stringent rules for high-risk applications, and making sure nationwide data ownership.