samplebuddy

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

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is reinventing education while making discovering more available however likewise triggering arguments on its impact.

While trainees hail AI tools like ChatGPT for enhancing their knowing experience, speakers are raising issues about the growing dependence on AI, which they argue fosters laziness and undermines academic integrity, particularly with lots of trainees not able to safeguard their projects or offered works.

Prof. Isaac Nwaogwugwu, a speaker at the University of Lagos, in an interview with Nairametrics, expressed aggravation over the growing reliance on AI -generated reactions among students recounting a current experience he had.

RelatedStories

Avoid sharing personal details that can determine you with AI tools- Expert alerts

Chinese AI app DeepSeek sparks international tech selloff, challenges U.S. AI dominance

"I provided an assignment to my MBA trainees, and out of over 100 trainees, about 40% submitted the specific same responses. These students did not even know each other, however they all used the exact same AI tool to produce their reactions," he said.

He noted that this pattern is widespread among both undergraduate and postgraduate students however is especially worrying in part-time and range learning programs.

"AI is a serious difficulty when it concerns projects. Many students no longer think critically-they simply go on the internet, produce responses, and submit," he included.

Surprisingly, some speakers are also implicated of over-relying on AI, setting a cycle where both teachers and trainees turn to AI for benefit instead of intellectual rigor.

This argument raises crucial concerns about the role of AI in academic stability and trainee development.

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

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

Decline of scholastic rigor

University speakers are progressively concerned about trainees sending AI -generated tasks without truly comprehending the content.

Dr. Felix Echekoba, a speaker at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, revealed his concerns to Nairametrics about trainees increasingly counting on ChatGPT, just to deal with responding to standard concerns when tested.

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

- Prof. Nwaogwugwu mentioned that the increasing number of superior graduates can not be totally credited to AI but confessed that even high-performing trainees utilize these tools.
"A first-class student is a first-rate student, AI or not, however that does not indicate they don't cheat. The advantages of AI may be peripheral, but it is making students dependent 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 very same practice.
"It's not simply trainees utilizing AI slackly. Some lecturers, out of their own laziness, generate lesson notes, course lays out, marking plans, and even test questions with AI without reviewing them. Students in turn utilize AI to create answers. It's a cycle of laziness and it is killing genuine learning," he regreted.

Students' viewpoints on usage

Students, on the other hand, say AI has enhanced their knowing experience by making scholastic products more understandable and accessible.

- Eniola Arowosafe, a 300-level Business Administration student at Unilag, bphomesteading.com shared how AI has considerably aided her knowing by breaking down complex terms and providing summaries of prolonged texts.
"AI assisted me comprehend things more quickly, particularly when dealing with intricate subjects," she described.

However, she remembered an instance when she used AI to submit her job, just for her lecturer to right away recognize that it was generated by ChatGPT and reject it. Eniola kept in mind that it was a good-bad effect.

- Bryan Okwuba, who just recently finished with a first-class degree in Pharmacy Technology from the University of Lagos, strongly believes that his academic success wasn't due to any AI tool. He associates his impressive grades to actively appealing by asking questions and concentrating on locations that lecturers emphasize in class, as they are often shown in examination questions.
"It's all about being present, paying attention, and taking advantage of the wealth of understanding shared by my coworkers," he said,

- Tunde Awoshita, a final-year marketing student at UNIZIK, confesses to periodically copying directly from ChatGPT when dealing with numerous due dates.
"To be sincere, there are times I copy straight from ChatGPT when I have several due dates, and I understand I'm guilty of that, most times the speakers don't get to go through them, however AI has actually also assisted me find out much faster."

Balancing AI's function in education

Experts think the option depends on AI literacy