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

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is reinventing education while making finding out more accessible however also sparking disputes on its impact.

While students 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 weakens scholastic integrity, lovewiki.faith specifically with many trainees not able to safeguard their assignments or provided works.

Prof. Isaac Nwaogwugwu, a speaker at the University of Lagos, in an interview with Nairametrics, revealed disappointment over the growing reliance on AI-generated reactions among students stating a recent experience he had.

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"I offered a project to my MBA students, and out of over 100 students, about 40% sent the precise very same answers. These students did not even know each other, however they all utilized the same AI tool to create their reactions," he stated.

He kept in mind that this trend prevails amongst both undergraduate and postgraduate trainees however is specifically worrying in part-time and range learning programs.

"AI is a severe difficulty when it pertains to assignments. Many students no longer believe critically-they simply go on the internet, produce answers, and send," he included.

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

This debate raises vital questions about the role of AI in academic stability 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 launched guidelines on generative AI since July 2023.

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

Decline of scholastic rigor

University lecturers are progressively concerned about trainees submitting AI -generated projects without really comprehending the material.

Dr. Felix Echekoba, a lecturer at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, expressed his concerns to Nairametrics about trainees significantly relying on ChatGPT, just to fight with responding to fundamental questions when tested.

"Many trainees copy from ChatGPT and submit polished tasks, however when asked fundamental concerns, they go blank. It's frustrating due to the fact that education has to do with finding out, not simply passing courses," he said.

- Prof. Nwaogwugwu mentioned that the increasing number of superior graduates can not be entirely attributed to AI however confessed that even high-performing trainees utilize these tools.
"A top-notch trainee is a top-notch trainee, AI or not, however that does not mean they don't cheat. The advantages of AI may be peripheral, but it is making students dependent and less analytical," he stated.

- Another speaker, Dr. Ereke, from Ebonyi State University, raised a different issue that some speakers themselves are guilty of the exact same practice.
"It's not simply trainees utilizing AI slackly. Some speakers, out of their own laziness, generate lesson notes, course lays out, marking plans, and even exam concerns with AI without reviewing them. Students in turn utilize AI to generate answers. It's a cycle of laziness and it is killing real knowing," he lamented.

Students' perspectives on usage

Students, on the other hand, state AI has actually improved their learning experience by making scholastic products more reasonable and available.

- Eniola Arowosafe, a 300-level Business Administration student at Unilag, shared how AI has actually considerably helped her learning by breaking down complex terms and supplying summaries of prolonged texts.
"AI assisted me understand things more easily, especially when dealing with intricate topics," she discussed.

However, she recalled an instance when she utilized AI to submit her task, only for her lecturer to instantly acknowledge that it was generated by ChatGPT and decline it. Eniola kept in mind that it was a good-bad result.

- Bryan Okwuba, who recently graduated with a superior 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 interesting by asking questions and concentrating on areas that speakers highlight in class, as they are frequently reflected in examination concerns.
"It's all about being present, taking note, and using the wealth of understanding shared by my associates," he said,

- Tunde Awoshita, a final-year marketing student at UNIZIK, admits to periodically copying straight from ChatGPT when dealing with numerous deadlines.
"To be truthful, there are times I copy straight from ChatGPT when I have multiple deadlines, and I know I'm guilty of that, many times the lecturers don't get to go through them, however AI has also helped me learn quicker."

Balancing AI's function in education

Experts think the service lies in AI literacy