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

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Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming education while making discovering more accessible but likewise triggering debates on its effect.

Expert System (AI) is revolutionizing education while making discovering more accessible however also sparking disputes on its effect.


While students hail AI tools like ChatGPT for improving their learning experience, speakers are raising concerns about the growing reliance on AI, which they argue fosters laziness and undermines academic integrity, especially with many trainees not able to protect their assignments or given 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 amongst students recounting a current experience he had.


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"I gave an assignment to my MBA trainees, and out of over 100 trainees, about 40% sent the specific same responses. These trainees did not even understand each other, however they all used the very same AI tool to create their responses," he said.


He noted that this pattern prevails among both undergraduate and postgraduate trainees however is specifically worrying in part-time and range learning programs.


"AI is a serious obstacle when it comes to assignments. Many students no longer think critically-they simply browse the web, create responses, and submit," he added.


Surprisingly, akropolistravel.com some lecturers are also implicated of over-relying on AI, setting a cycle where both teachers and students turn to AI for benefit rather than intellectual rigor.


This argument raises vital questions about the role of AI in scholastic integrity and student advancement.


According to a UNESCO report, while ChatGPT reached 100 million regular monthly active users in January 2023, just one country had actually released guidelines on generative AI as of July 2023.


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


Decline of scholastic rigor


University speakers are progressively concerned about trainees submitting AI-generated assignments without truly understanding the material.


Dr. Felix Echekoba, a speaker at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, expressed his concerns to Nairametrics about students progressively depending on ChatGPT, only to have problem with addressing standard questions when tested.


"Many students copy from ChatGPT and submit polished assignments, but when asked standard questions, they go blank. It's disappointing since education is about discovering, not simply passing courses," he said.


- Prof. Nwaogwugwu explained that the increasing variety of top-notch graduates can not be completely credited to AI but confessed that even high-performing trainees utilize these tools.


"A superior trainee is a superior trainee, AI or not, but that does not indicate they do not cheat. The benefits 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 issue that some speakers themselves are guilty of the very same practice.


"It's not just trainees using AI slackly. Some speakers, out of their own laziness, produce lesson notes, course details, marking schemes, and even examination concerns with AI without evaluating them. Students in turn utilize AI to produce answers. It's a cycle of laziness and it is eliminating genuine knowing," he regreted.


Students' perspectives on usage


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


- Eniola Arowosafe, a 300-level Business Administration student at Unilag, drapia.org shared how AI has actually considerably aided her knowing by breaking down complex terms and supplying summaries of prolonged texts.


"AI assisted me comprehend things more easily, especially when handling complicated topics," she discussed.


However, users.atw.hu she remembered an instance when she utilized AI to submit her task, only for her lecturer to right away recognize that it was generated by ChatGPT and vokipedia.de decline it. Eniola noted that it was a good-bad impact.


- Bryan Okwuba, who recently finished with a first-class degree in Pharmacy Technology from the University of Lagos, strongly believes that his scholastic success wasn't due to any AI tool. He attributes his exceptional grades to actively interesting by asking concerns and concentrating on areas that speakers stress in class, as they are frequently shown in test questions.


"It's everything about being present, focusing, and tapping into the wealth of understanding shared by my associates," he stated,


- Tunde Awoshita, a final-year marketing trainee 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 numerous deadlines, and I know I'm guilty of that, many times the lecturers don't get to review them, but AI has actually likewise assisted me discover faster."


Balancing AI's function in education


Experts believe the option lies in AI literacy; teaching trainees and speakers how to use AI as a learning aid rather than a shortcut.


- Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, highlighted the combination of AI into Nigeria's education system, stressing the importance of a balanced approach that maintains human participation while utilizing AI to enhance learning outcomes.


"As we browse the quickly developing landscape of Expert system (AI), it is vital that we prioritise human firm in education. We must make sure that AI boosts, instead of replaces, teachers' crucial function in shaping young minds," he stated


Concerns over AI in Learning


Dorcas Akintade, pyra-handheld.com a cybersecurity change expert, dealt with growing concerns concerning making use of synthetic intelligence (AI) tools such as ChatGPT and their prospective threats to the instructional system.


- She acknowledged the benefits of AI, nevertheless, emphasized the need for caution in its usage.

- Akintade highlighted the increasing resistance amongst educators and schools towards incorporating AI tools in discovering environments. She recognized 2 primary reasons AI tools are prevented in academic settings: security dangers and plagiarism. She described that AI tools like ChatGPT are trained to respond based on user interactions, which might not align with the expectations of teachers.


"It is not looking at it as a tutor," Akintade said, describing that AI does not cater to specific mentor approaches.


Plagiarism is another problem, as AI pulls from existing data, typically without appropriate attribution


"A great deal of individuals require 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 details that some other individuals are fed into it, which in essence suggests that is another person's documentation," she warned.


- Additionally, Akintade highlighted an early issue in AI development referred to as "hallucination," where AI tools would produce information that was not accurate.


"Hallucination suggested that it was bringing out information 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 providing it with particular details to avoid such errors.


Navigating AI in Education


Akintade argued that prohibiting AI tools outright is not the service, particularly when AI provides an opportunity to leapfrog traditional educational approaches.


- She thinks that consistently strengthening key information assists people keep in mind and avoid making errors when confronted with challenges.


"Immersion brings conversion. When you inform individuals the exact same thing over and over again, when they will make the errors, then they'll remember."


She likewise empasized the requirement for clear policies and treatments within schools, noting that numerous schools should resolve the individuals and process elements of this usage.


- Prof. Nwaogwugwu has resorted to in-class tasks and tests to counter AI-driven scholastic dishonesty.


"Now, I generally utilize projects to ensure trainees supply original work." However, he acknowledged that managing big classes makes this method challenging.


"If you set complicated questions, students will not have the ability to utilize AI to get direct answers," he described.


He stressed the need for universities to train speakers on crafting exam questions that AI can not quickly solve while acknowledging that some speakers struggle to counter AI misuse due to a lack of technological awareness. "Some lecturers are analogue," he said.


- Nigeria released a draft National AI Strategy in August 2024, focusing on ethical AI development with fairness, transparency, higgledy-piggledy.xyz responsibility, and privacy at its core.

- UNESCO in a report requires the guideline of AI in education, encouraging organizations to audit algorithms, information, drapia.org and outputs of generative AI tools to guarantee they meet ethical standards, safeguard user information, and filter inappropriate content.

- It worries the requirement to assess the long-term impact of AI on important abilities like believing and imagination while creating policies that align with ethical structures. Additionally, UNESCO advises executing age constraints for GenAI usage to secure younger trainees and secure vulnerable groups.
- For federal governments, it advised embracing a coordinated national approach to controling GenAI, including developing oversight bodies and lining up guidelines with existing data security and personal privacy laws. It highlights assessing AI dangers, implementing more stringent guidelines for high-risk applications, and guaranteeing nationwide data ownership.

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