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

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

While trainees hail AI tools like ChatGPT for improving their learning experience, speakers are raising issues about the growing dependence on AI, which they argue fosters laziness and undermines academic integrity, specifically with numerous students unable to safeguard their tasks or given works.

Prof. Isaac Nwaogwugwu, a lecturer at the University of Lagos, in an interview with Nairametrics, expressed disappointment over the growing dependence on AI-generated reactions amongst students recounting a recent experience he had.

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"I offered a project to my MBA trainees, and out of over 100 trainees, about 40% sent the precise very same responses. These students did not even understand each other, but they all used the exact same AI tool to generate their actions," he said.

He kept in mind that this pattern is common among both undergraduate and postgraduate trainees however is especially concerning in part-time and distance knowing programs.

"AI is a major difficulty when it comes to projects. Many trainees no longer think critically-they simply go on the internet, produce answers, and submit," he added.

Surprisingly, some speakers are also 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 vital concerns about the function of AI in scholastic stability and trainee advancement.

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

As of December 2024, ChatGPT had more than 300 million individuals using the AI chatbot each week and 1 billion messages sent out every day worldwide.

Decline of scholastic rigor

University lecturers are significantly worried about students submitting AI-generated projects without genuinely understanding the content.

Dr. Felix Echekoba, a speaker at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, revealed his concerns to Nairametrics about students progressively depending on ChatGPT, just to have a hard time with responding to fundamental questions when checked.

"Many trainees copy from ChatGPT and send refined tasks, however when asked basic concerns, they go blank. It's disappointing because education has to do with finding out, not simply passing courses," he stated.

- Prof. Nwaogwugwu mentioned that the increasing number of superior graduates can not be entirely credited to AI however admitted that even high-performing students utilize these tools.
"A first-rate student is a first-rate student, AI or not, however that does not imply they do not cheat. The advantages of AI might be peripheral, but it is making trainees reliant and less analytical," he said.

- Another speaker, Dr. Ereke, from Ebonyi State University, raised a various concern that some lecturers themselves are guilty of the exact same practice.
"It's not simply students utilizing AI lazily. Some lecturers, out of their own laziness, create lesson notes, course describes, marking schemes, and even test concerns with AI without reviewing them. Students in turn use AI to generate answers. It's a cycle of laziness and it is eliminating real knowing," he regreted.

Students' point of views on usage

Students, on the other hand, state AI has improved their knowing experience by making academic products more easy to understand and accessible.

- Eniola Arowosafe, wiki.myamens.com a 300-level Business Administration trainee at Unilag, shared how AI has actually significantly assisted her learning by breaking down complex terms and supplying summaries of prolonged texts.
"AI helped me understand things more quickly, specifically when handling complicated topics," she discussed.

However, she recalled a circumstances when she utilized AI to send her job, just for her lecturer to instantly acknowledge that it was produced by ChatGPT and decline it. Eniola noted that it was a good-bad result.

- Bryan Okwuba, who recently finished with a first-class degree in Pharmacy Technology from the University of Lagos, securely believes that his academic success wasn't due to any AI tool. He attributes his impressive grades to actively engaging by asking concerns and concentrating on locations that lecturers emphasize in class, as they are often shown in examination concerns.
"It's everything about being present, focusing, and using the wealth of knowledge shared by my colleagues," he said,

- Tunde Awoshita, a final-year marketing trainee at UNIZIK, confesses to occasionally copying straight from ChatGPT when facing multiple due dates.
"To be honest, there are times I copy straight from ChatGPT when I have numerous deadlines, and I understand I'm guilty of that, many times the lecturers do not get to go through them, however AI has likewise assisted me find out faster."

Balancing AI 's function in education

Experts believe the service lies in AI literacy