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

Expert System (AI) is revolutionizing education while making finding out more accessible however likewise sparking debates on its impact.

While students hail AI tools like ChatGPT for boosting their learning experience, lecturers are raising concerns about the growing dependence on AI, which they argue fosters laziness and weakens scholastic stability, especially with numerous students not able to defend their assignments or provided works.

Prof. Isaac Nwaogwugwu, a lecturer at the University of Lagos, in an interview with Nairametrics, expressed aggravation over the growing dependence on AI -generated actions among trainees stating a current experience he had.

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"I provided a project to my MBA students, and out of over 100 students, about 40% submitted the precise very same answers. These students did not even understand each other, but they all utilized the very same AI tool to produce their responses," he stated.

He kept in mind that this pattern is common amongst both undergraduate and postgraduate students but is particularly concerning in part-time and distance knowing programs.

"AI is a serious difficulty when it pertains to projects. Many trainees no longer think critically-they just go online, produce responses, and send," he included.

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

This debate questions about the function of AI in academic integrity and trainee advancement.

According to a UNESCO report, while ChatGPT reached 100 million month-to-month active users in January 2023, only one nation had actually launched guidelines on generative AI since July 2023.

As of December 2024, ChatGPT had over 300 million individuals using the AI chatbot weekly and 1 billion messages sent every day around the globe.

Decline of academic rigor

University speakers are progressively worried about students submitting AI-generated projects without truly comprehending the material.

Dr. Felix Echekoba, a speaker at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, revealed his issues to Nairametrics about students increasingly counting on ChatGPT, only to battle with addressing fundamental questions when evaluated.

"Many students copy from ChatGPT and submit refined tasks, but when asked basic concerns, they go blank. It's frustrating because education has to do with discovering, not simply passing courses," he stated.

- Prof. Nwaogwugwu pointed out that the increasing variety of superior graduates can not be completely credited to AI however admitted that even high-performing students utilize these tools.
"A first-rate student is a superior student, AI or not, but that doesn't indicate they do not cheat. The advantages of AI may be peripheral, however it is making students dependent and less analytical," he stated.

- Another speaker, Dr. Ereke, from Ebonyi State University, raised a various issue that some lecturers themselves are guilty of the very same practice.
"It's not simply trainees using AI slackly. Some lecturers, out of their own laziness, generate lesson notes, course details, marking schemes, and even exam concerns with AI without examining them. Students in turn utilize AI to produce answers. It's a cycle of laziness and it is killing genuine learning," he regreted.

Students' perspectives on usage

Students, on the other hand, state AI has enhanced their learning experience by making scholastic materials more easy to understand and available.

- Eniola Arowosafe, a 300-level Business Administration student at Unilag, shared how AI has substantially aided her learning by breaking down complex terms and offering summaries of lengthy texts.
"AI helped me comprehend things more quickly, particularly when handling intricate topics," she explained.

However, she recalled an instance when she used AI to send her project, only for her lecturer to instantly recognize that it was produced by ChatGPT and reject it. Eniola noted that it was a good-bad impact.

- Bryan Okwuba, who just recently finished with a first-rate degree in Pharmacy Technology from the University of Lagos, firmly believes that his scholastic success wasn't due to any AI tool. He attributes his exceptional grades to actively engaging by asking questions and focusing on locations that speakers stress in class, as they are typically shown in examination concerns.
"It's everything about existing, paying attention, and using the wealth of knowledge shared by my associates," he said,

- Tunde Awoshita, a final-year marketing trainee at UNIZIK, nerdgaming.science admits to occasionally copying directly from ChatGPT when facing multiple due dates.
"To be truthful, there are times I copy directly from ChatGPT when I have multiple deadlines, and I understand I'm guilty of that, the majority of times the lecturers don't get to go through them, but AI has also assisted me discover quicker."

Balancing AI's role in education

Experts believe the solution lies in AI literacy