Nigerian Students Turn to aI For Tests Answers, Lecturers Raise Alarm
Open
Nigerian Students Turn to aI For Tests Answers, Lecturers Raise Alarm
Expert System (AI) is transforming education while making finding out more available but likewise sparking debates on its effect.
While trainees hail AI tools like ChatGPT for boosting their knowing experience, speakers are raising issues about the growing reliance on AI, which they argue fosters laziness and undermines scholastic integrity, specifically with lots of trainees not able to safeguard their projects or provided works.
Prof. Isaac Nwaogwugwu, a speaker at the University of Lagos, in an interview with Nairametrics, expressed disappointment over the growing dependence on AI-generated responses among students recounting a recent experience he had.
RelatedStories
Avoid sharing personal details that can recognize you with AI tools- Expert warns
Chinese AI app DeepSeek sparks worldwide tech selloff, challenges U.S. AI dominance
"I gave an assignment to my MBA trainees, and out of over 100 students, about 40% submitted the specific very same answers. These students did not even understand each other, but they all utilized the exact same AI tool to generate their actions," he stated.
He kept in mind that this trend prevails amongst both undergraduate and postgraduate students however is particularly worrying in part-time and range learning programs.
"AI is a severe difficulty when it concerns projects. Many trainees no longer believe critically-they just go on the internet, produce responses, and submit," he included.
Surprisingly, some lecturers are likewise implicated of over-relying on AI, setting a cycle where both educators and students turn to AI for convenience instead of intellectual rigor.
This dispute raises important concerns about the role of AI in academic stability and trainee development.
According to a UNESCO report, while ChatGPT reached 100 million regular monthly active users in January 2023, only one country had launched regulations on generative AI since July 2023.
As of December 2024, ChatGPT had more than 300 million people utilizing the AI chatbot every week and 1 billion messages sent out every day around the globe.
Decline of scholastic rigor
University lecturers are significantly concerned about trainees sending AI-generated projects without really understanding the material.
Dr. Felix Echekoba, a lecturer at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, expressed his concerns to Nairametrics about students progressively relying on ChatGPT, just to fight with responding to standard questions when evaluated.
"Many trainees copy from ChatGPT and submit polished projects, but when asked fundamental concerns, they go blank. It's frustrating since education is about finding out, not just passing courses," he stated.
- Prof. Nwaogwugwu pointed out that the increasing variety of top-notch graduates can not be completely attributed to AI however admitted that even high-performing students utilize these tools.
"A first-class student is a superior student, AI or not, but that does not indicate they do not cheat. The advantages of AI may be peripheral, but it is making students reliant and less analytical," he said.
- Another lecturer, Dr. Ereke, from Ebonyi State University, raised a different concern that some speakers themselves are guilty of the very same practice.
"It's not simply students utilizing AI lazily. Some speakers, out of their own laziness, create lesson notes, course outlines, marking schemes, and even test questions with AI without examining them. Students in turn use AI to produce responses. It's a cycle of laziness and it is eliminating genuine knowing," he lamented.
Students' point of views on usage
Students, on the other hand, say AI has actually improved their knowing experience by making scholastic materials more understandable and accessible.
- Eniola Arowosafe, a 300-level Business Administration student at Unilag, shared how AI has actually significantly aided her knowing by breaking down complex terms and offering summaries of prolonged texts.
"AI assisted me comprehend things more quickly, especially when dealing with intricate subjects," she described.
However, she remembered a circumstances when she used AI to submit her project, only for her speaker to immediately acknowledge that it was produced by ChatGPT and reject it. Eniola kept in mind that it was a good-bad impact.
- Bryan Okwuba, who just recently graduated with a superior degree in Pharmacy Technology from the University of Lagos, firmly thinks that his academic success wasn't due to any AI tool. He attributes his outstanding grades to actively appealing by asking questions and focusing on areas that speakers highlight in class, as they are typically shown in exam questions.
"It's all about existing, focusing, and using the wealth of understanding shared by my associates," he stated,
- Tunde Awoshita, a final-year marketing trainee at UNIZIK, admits to occasionally copying directly from ChatGPT when dealing with multiple due dates.
"To be honest, there are times I copy directly from ChatGPT when I have multiple due dates, and I understand I'm guilty of that, many times the speakers don't get to go through them, but AI has actually likewise assisted me find out faster."
Balancing AI's role in education
Experts think the service lies in AI literacy; teaching trainees and lecturers how to utilize AI as a learning help instead of a faster way.
- Minister of Education, wolvesbaneuo.com Dr. Tunji Alausa, highlighted the combination of AI into Nigeria's education system, worrying the importance of a well balanced approach that maintains human participation while harnessing AI to improve finding out outcomes.
"As we browse the quickly evolving landscape of Artificial Intelligence (AI), it is crucial that we prioritise human agency in education. We need to ensure that AI enhances, rather than changes, teachers' vital function in shaping young minds," he stated
Concerns over AI in Learning
Dorcas Akintade, a cybersecurity change professional, attended to growing concerns concerning the usage of expert system (AI) tools such as ChatGPT and their to the educational system.
- She acknowledged the advantages of AI, nevertheless, highlighted the need for caution in its usage.
- Akintade highlighted the increasing hesitance among educators and schools towards including AI tools in discovering environments. She recognized two primary reasons AI tools are discouraged in academic settings: security risks and plagiarism. She discussed that AI tools like ChatGPT are trained to react based on user interactions, which may not line up with the expectations of teachers.
"It is not looking at it as a tutor," Akintade said, describing that AI doesn't deal with particular teaching approaches.
Plagiarism is another problem, as AI pulls from existing data, frequently without correct attribution
"A great deal of individuals require to comprehend, like I stated, this is information that has actually been trained on. It is not simply 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 cautioned.
- Additionally, Akintade highlighted an early problem in AI development understood as "hallucination," where AI tools would create info that was not accurate.
"Hallucination implied that it was highlighting info 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 particular information to avoid such errors.
Navigating AI in Education
Akintade argued that prohibiting AI tools outright is not the solution, historydb.date especially when AI provides a chance to leapfrog traditional academic approaches.
- She believes that consistently enhancing crucial info helps individuals remember and avoid making errors when faced with difficulties.
"Immersion brings conversion. When you tell individuals the very same thing over and over again, when they will make the errors, then they'll remember."
She likewise empasized the need for clear policies and procedures within schools, keeping in mind that numerous schools should resolve the individuals and procedure aspects of this usage.
- Prof. Nwaogwugwu has turned to in-class assignments and tests to counter AI-driven scholastic dishonesty.
"Now, I mainly use projects to guarantee trainees provide original work." However, he acknowledged that managing big classes makes this method tough.
"If you set intricate concerns, students will not have the ability to use AI to get direct responses," he discussed.
He stressed the need for universities to train speakers on crafting test questions that AI can not easily solve while acknowledging that some speakers struggle to counter AI misuse due to a lack of technological awareness. "Some lecturers are analogue," he stated.
- Nigeria launched a draft National AI Strategy in August 2024, concentrating on ethical AI advancement with fairness, transparency, accountability, opensourcebridge.science and personal privacy at its core.
- UNESCO in a report calls for the regulation of AI in education, encouraging institutions to audit algorithms, data, and outputs of generative AI tools to guarantee they fulfill ethical standards, secure user data, and filter unsuitable material.
- It worries the need to examine the long-lasting effect of AI on critical abilities like believing and creativity while producing policies that align with ethical frameworks. Additionally, UNESCO recommends carrying out age restrictions for GenAI usage to protect more youthful trainees and protect susceptible groups.
- For governments, it recommended adopting a collaborated nationwide approach to managing GenAI, consisting of developing oversight bodies and aligning policies with existing information security and personal privacy laws. It stresses examining AI dangers, enforcing stricter guidelines for high-risk applications, and oke.zone making sure nationwide data ownership.