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 sparking debates on its effect.

While students hail AI tools like ChatGPT for enhancing their learning experience, lecturers are raising concerns about the growing reliance on AI, which they argue fosters laziness and weakens scholastic integrity, particularly with many students unable to protect their projects or given works.

Prof. Isaac Nwaogwugwu, a speaker at the University of Lagos, in an interview with Nairametrics, valetinowiki.racing expressed frustration over the growing dependence on AI-generated responses among students recounting a recent experience he had.

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“I provided an assignment to my MBA trainees, and out of over 100 students, about 40% submitted the exact very same responses. These students did not even understand each other, but they all utilized the very same AI tool to create their reactions,” he stated.

He kept in mind that this trend prevails among both undergraduate and postgraduate students however is particularly concerning in part-time and range knowing programs.

“AI is a serious obstacle when it comes to tasks. Many students no longer believe critically-they simply go on the internet, create answers, and send,” he included.

Surprisingly, some speakers are likewise implicated of over-relying on AI, setting a cycle where both educators and students turn to AI for convenience rather than intellectual rigor.

This debate raises vital concerns about the function of AI in academic stability and trainee development.

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

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

Decline of academic rigor

University lecturers are progressively concerned about trainees submitting AI-generated projects without truly comprehending the material.

Dr. Felix Echekoba, a lecturer at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, expressed his concerns to Nairametrics about students significantly relying on ChatGPT, annunciogratis.net only to have a hard time with addressing basic questions when tested.

“Many trainees copy from ChatGPT and submit sleek assignments, but when asked standard concerns, they go blank. It’s frustrating due to the fact that education is about finding out, not simply passing courses,” he said.

– Prof. Nwaogwugwu mentioned that the increasing variety of first-class graduates can not be totally associated to AI however confessed that even high-performing trainees use these tools.

“A first-class student is a first-class student, AI or not, however that does not imply they don’t cheat. The benefits of AI may be peripheral, but it is making trainees reliant and less analytical,” he said.

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

“It’s not simply students utilizing AI slackly. Some speakers, out of their own laziness, produce lesson notes, course lays out, marking schemes, and even exam concerns with AI without reviewing them. Students in turn use AI to produce responses. It’s a cycle of laziness and it is killing genuine knowing,” he regreted.

Students’ perspectives on use

Students, pyra-handheld.com on the other hand, state AI has improved their knowing experience by making scholastic materials more understandable and available.

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

“AI helped me comprehend things more quickly, especially when handling intricate topics,” she described.

However, she remembered a circumstances when she utilized AI to submit her job, just for her speaker to instantly recognize that it was generated by ChatGPT and decline it. Eniola noted that it was a good-bad effect.

– Bryan Okwuba, who recently finished with a superior 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 impressive grades to actively interesting by asking questions and concentrating on locations that lecturers stress in class, as they are typically reflected in test concerns.

“It’s everything about being present, focusing, and taking advantage of the wealth of understanding shared by my associates,” he stated,

– Tunde Awoshita, morphomics.science a final-year marketing student at UNIZIK, confesses to occasionally copying straight from ChatGPT when dealing with multiple deadlines.

“To be truthful, there are times I copy directly from ChatGPT when I have numerous due dates, and I understand I’m guilty of that, the majority of times the speakers don’t get to check out them, but AI has actually also assisted me discover much faster.”

Balancing AI‘s function in education

Experts believe the solution depends on AI literacy; teaching trainees and lecturers how to utilize AI as a learning aid instead of a faster way.

– Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, highlighted the integration of AI into Nigeria’s education system, stressing the significance of a balanced technique that maintains human involvement while utilizing AI to improve discovering results.

“As we navigate the quickly developing landscape of Artificial Intelligence (AI), it is important that we prioritise human firm in education. We should ensure that AI enhances, rather than replaces, educators’ important role in forming young minds,” he stated

Concerns over AI in Learning

Dorcas Akintade, a cybersecurity transformation expert, resolved growing concerns regarding using expert system (AI) tools such as ChatGPT and their potential threats to the educational system.

– She acknowledged the benefits of AI, nevertheless, emphasized the requirement for caution in its usage.

– Akintade highlighted the increasing hesitance among teachers and schools toward integrating AI tools in discovering environments. She identified 2 primary reasons why AI tools are discouraged in educational settings: security risks and plagiarism. She explained that AI tools like ChatGPT are trained to react 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 does not accommodate particular teaching approaches.

Plagiarism is another issue, as AI pulls from existing data, often without appropriate attribution

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

– Additionally, Akintade highlighted an early concern in AI advancement called “hallucination,” where AI tools would create information that was not accurate.

“Hallucination indicated that it was drawing out details from the air. If ChatGPT might not get that details from you, it was going to make one up,” she discussed.

She advised “grounding” AI by offering it with specific info to prevent such mistakes.

Navigating AI in Education

Akintade argued that prohibiting AI tools outright is not the service, especially when AI presents a chance to leapfrog standard academic methods.

– She thinks that regularly reinforcing key info assists people remember and prevent making mistakes when confronted with difficulties.

“Immersion brings conversion. When you inform individuals the very same thing over and over again, when they are about to make the mistakes, then they’ll remember.”

She likewise empasized the need for clear policies and treatments within schools, keeping in mind that numerous schools need to address the individuals and process elements of this usage.

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

“Now, I primarily utilize assignments to ensure students provide initial work.” However, he acknowledged that managing big classes makes this technique difficult.

“If you set complex concerns, trainees will not be able to utilize AI to get direct responses,” he explained.

He highlighted the need for universities to train lecturers on crafting test concerns that AI can not quickly solve while acknowledging that some speakers struggle to counter AI misuse due to an absence of technological awareness. “Some lecturers are analogue,” he said.

– Nigeria released a draft National AI Strategy in August 2024, concentrating on ethical AI development with fairness, openness, responsibility, and privacy at its core.

– UNESCO in a report calls for the policy of AI in education, recommending organizations to investigate algorithms, information, drapia.org and outputs of generative AI tools to ensure they satisfy ethical requirements, niaskywalk.com secure user information, and filter unsuitable material.

– It worries the requirement to assess the of AI on crucial abilities like thinking and imagination while developing policies that line up with ethical frameworks. Additionally, UNESCO recommends carrying out age constraints for GenAI usage to protect younger trainees and secure vulnerable groups.
– For governments, it encouraged adopting a coordinated national approach to managing GenAI, including developing oversight bodies and lining up policies with existing information protection and privacy laws. It stresses evaluating AI risks, enforcing more stringent rules for high-risk applications, and making sure nationwide data ownership.