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

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing education while making finding out more accessible but likewise triggering disputes on its impact.

While students hail AI tools like ChatGPT for boosting their learning experience, lecturers are raising concerns about the growing reliance on AI, which they argue fosters laziness and undermines scholastic integrity, especially with lots of trainees not able to protect their projects or provided works.

Prof. Isaac Nwaogwugwu, a speaker at the University of Lagos, wiki.vst.hs-furtwangen.de in an interview with Nairametrics, revealed frustration over the growing reliance on AI-generated actions among trainees stating a recent experience he had.

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"I provided an assignment to my MBA students, and out of over 100 trainees, about 40% sent the specific same answers. These trainees did not even understand each other, but they all utilized the exact same AI tool to create their reactions," he said.

He noted that this pattern is prevalent amongst both undergraduate and postgraduate trainees however is particularly concerning in part-time and distance knowing programs.

"AI is a serious challenge when it comes to projects. Many students no longer think critically-they just go on the internet, generate responses, and submit," he included.

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

This argument raises crucial questions about the role of AI in scholastic stability and trainee development.

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

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

Decline of academic rigor

University lecturers are increasingly worried about students submitting AI -generated tasks without genuinely comprehending the material.

Dr. Felix Echekoba, a lecturer at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, expressed his issues to Nairametrics about students progressively relying on ChatGPT, just to battle with addressing fundamental questions when evaluated.

"Many trainees copy from ChatGPT and send sleek assignments, however when asked basic questions, they go blank. It's frustrating due to the fact that education is about discovering, not simply passing courses," he stated.

- Prof. Nwaogwugwu explained that the increasing variety of first-rate graduates can not be completely attributed to AI but confessed that even high-performing students utilize these tools.
"A top-notch trainee is a first-rate student, AI or not, but that doesn't mean they do not cheat. The advantages of AI may be peripheral, however it is making students reliant and less analytical," he stated.

- Another lecturer, Dr. Ereke, demo.qkseo.in from Ebonyi State University, raised a different concern that some speakers themselves are guilty of the very same practice.
"It's not just students using AI lazily. Some speakers, out of their own laziness, produce lesson notes, course lays out, 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 real knowing," he regreted.

Students' perspectives on use

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

- Eniola Arowosafe, a 300-level Business Administration trainee at Unilag, shared how AI has actually considerably helped her knowing by breaking down complex terms and supplying summaries of lengthy texts.
"AI helped me understand things more quickly, particularly when handling complicated topics," she explained.

However, she recalled an instance when she utilized AI to submit her task, only for her speaker to immediately recognize that it was created by ChatGPT and reject it. Eniola kept in mind that it was a good-bad effect.

- Bryan Okwuba, who recently graduated with a first-rate degree in Pharmacy Technology from the University of Lagos, securely believes that his academic success wasn't due to any AI tool. He associates his outstanding grades to actively appealing by asking questions and concentrating on areas that speakers highlight in class, as they are often shown in test concerns.
"It's all about being present, taking note, and taking advantage of the wealth of knowledge shared by my colleagues," he stated,

- Tunde Awoshita, a final-year marketing trainee at UNIZIK, admits to sometimes copying directly from ChatGPT when facing numerous due dates.
"To be truthful, there are times I copy directly from ChatGPT when I have numerous deadlines, and I know I'm guilty of that, a lot of times the speakers do not get to go through them, however AI has also assisted me find out faster."

Balancing AI's role in education

Experts think the solution lies in AI literacy