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

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing education while making finding out more available but likewise triggering arguments on its impact.

While students hail AI tools like ChatGPT for boosting their knowing experience, lecturers are raising concerns about the growing dependence on AI, which they argue fosters laziness and weakens scholastic stability, especially with many trainees unable to safeguard their tasks 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 responses among trainees stating a current experience he had.

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“I offered a project to my MBA students, and out of over 100 students, about 40% submitted the precise very same responses. These students did not even know each other, but they all utilized the same AI tool to create their responses,” he stated.

He kept in mind that this pattern prevails among both undergraduate and postgraduate students however is particularly worrying in part-time and range learning programs.

“AI is a severe difficulty when it concerns tasks. Many students no longer believe critically-they simply go on the internet, produce responses, and submit,” he added.

Surprisingly, some speakers are also accused of over-relying on AI, setting a cycle where both teachers and students turn to AI for convenience instead of intellectual rigor.

This dispute raises critical questions about the role of AI in academic stability and student development.

According to a UNESCO report, while ChatGPT reached 100 million monthly active users in January 2023, just one nation had released policies on generative AI since July 2023.

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

Decline of scholastic rigor

University speakers are progressively concerned about trainees sending AI-generated projects without genuinely comprehending the content.

Dr. Felix Echekoba, a lecturer at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, revealed his concerns to Nairametrics about trainees increasingly depending on ChatGPT, just to struggle with responding to standard concerns when checked.

“Many trainees copy from ChatGPT and send polished tasks, however when asked basic questions, they go blank. It’s disappointing because education has to do with discovering, not simply 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-rate student is a top-notch student, AI or not, but that doesn’t mean they don’t cheat. The benefits of AI might be peripheral, but it is making trainees reliant and less analytical,” he stated.

– Another lecturer, Dr. Ereke, from Ebonyi State University, raised a various concern that some lecturers themselves are guilty of the exact same practice.

“It’s not just students using AI slackly. Some lecturers, out of their own laziness, create lesson notes, course details, marking schemes, and even examination questions with AI without examining them. Students in turn use AI to generate responses. It’s a cycle of laziness and it is eliminating real knowing,” he regreted.

Students’ viewpoints on usage

Students, on the other hand, state AI has enhanced their knowing experience by making academic products more understandable and accessible.

– Eniola Arowosafe, a 300-level Business Administration student at Unilag, shared how AI has substantially assisted her learning by breaking down complex terms and providing summaries of lengthy texts.

“AI assisted me comprehend things more easily, especially when dealing with complicated topics,” she explained.

However, she recalled an instance when she utilized AI to send her job, just for her speaker to immediately acknowledge that it was generated by ChatGPT and decline 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, securely thinks that his scholastic success wasn’t due to any AI tool. He associates his outstanding grades to actively appealing by asking questions and concentrating on locations that lecturers emphasize in class, as they are often reflected in examination questions.

“It’s all about existing, taking note, and tapping into the wealth of understanding shared by my coworkers,” he said,

– Tunde Awoshita, a final-year marketing student at UNIZIK, confesses to periodically copying directly from ChatGPT when facing multiple deadlines.

“To be sincere, there are times I copy straight from ChatGPT when I have numerous due dates, and I know I’m guilty of that, most times the speakers don’t get to review them, however AI has also assisted me discover quicker.”

Balancing AI‘s function in education

Experts think the option lies in AI literacy; mentor trainees and speakers how to use AI as a learning help rather than a shortcut.

– Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, highlighted the combination of AI into Nigeria’s education system, worrying the significance of a well balanced technique that preserves human involvement while harnessing AI to improve discovering results.

“As we navigate the quickly evolving landscape of Artificial Intelligence (AI), it is crucial that we prioritise human company in education. We need to guarantee that AI boosts, rather than replaces, educators’ essential function in forming young minds,” he stated

Concerns over AI in Learning

Dorcas Akintade, a cybersecurity improvement professional, dealt with growing concerns concerning making use of expert system (AI) tools such as ChatGPT and their potential dangers to the academic system.

– She acknowledged the advantages of AI, nevertheless, highlighted the requirement for care in its usage.

– Akintade highlighted the increasing resistance among educators and users.atw.hu schools toward including AI tools in finding out environments. She determined two primary reasons AI tools are dissuaded in academic settings: security threats and plagiarism. She discussed that AI tools like ChatGPT are trained to react based upon user interactions, which might not line up with the expectations of educators.

“It is not taking a look at it as a tutor,” Akintade said, explaining that AI does not deal with particular teaching methods.

Plagiarism is another concern, as AI pulls from existing information, frequently without appropriate attribution

“A great deal of people need to understand, like I stated, this is information that has actually been trained on. It is not just bringing things out from the sky. It’s bringing details that some other individuals are fed into it, which in essence indicates that is another individual’s paperwork,” she warned.

– Additionally, Akintade highlighted an early concern in AI development referred to as “hallucination,” where AI tools would produce info that was not factual.

“Hallucination indicated that it was highlighting information from the air. If ChatGPT could not get that information from you, it was going to make one up,” she .

She advised “grounding” AI by offering it with specific details to avoid such errors.

Navigating AI in Education

Akintade argued that banning AI tools outright is not the option, especially when AI presents a chance to leapfrog standard instructional techniques.

– She believes that regularly enhancing essential details assists people keep in mind and avoid making errors when confronted with difficulties.

“Immersion brings conversion. When you inform people the same thing over and over once again, when they are about to make the mistakes, then they’ll keep in mind.”

She also empasized the need for clear policies and procedures within schools, noting that numerous schools should resolve the people and process elements of this usage.

– Prof. Nwaogwugwu has actually resorted to in-class assignments and tests to counter AI-driven academic dishonesty.

“Now, I mainly use assignments to make sure trainees offer original work.” However, he acknowledged that handling big classes makes this approach difficult.

“If you set complex questions, students won’t be able to utilize AI to get direct responses,” he discussed.

He emphasized the requirement for universities to train lecturers on crafting examination questions that AI can not quickly resolve while acknowledging that some lecturers battle to counter AI misuse due to an absence of technological awareness. “Some speakers are analogue,” he stated.

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

– UNESCO in a report requires the guideline of AI in education, advising organizations to investigate algorithms, information, and outputs of generative AI tools to guarantee they fulfill ethical standards, it-viking.ch secure user information, and filter unsuitable material.

– It worries the requirement to evaluate the long-term impact of AI on vital skills like believing and imagination while creating policies that line up with ethical frameworks. Additionally, UNESCO advises implementing age constraints for GenAI usage to safeguard more youthful trainees and protect vulnerable groups.
– For governments, it recommended adopting a coordinated nationwide method to regulating GenAI, including establishing oversight bodies and lining up regulations with existing data protection and personal privacy laws. It emphasizes examining AI risks, implementing stricter rules for high-risk applications, and making sure nationwide information ownership.