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

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is reinventing education while making discovering more available but also triggering disputes on its effect.

While students 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 stability, particularly with numerous students unable to defend their projects or provided works.

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

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"I offered a task to my MBA students, and out of over 100 trainees, about 40% submitted the precise same responses. These trainees did not even understand each other, however they all used the exact same AI tool to create their actions," he stated.

He kept in mind that this trend is widespread among both undergraduate and postgraduate students but is specifically worrying in part-time and distance knowing programs.

"AI is a major obstacle when it comes to projects. Many trainees no longer think critically-they simply go online, create responses, and send," he included.

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

This debate raises important concerns about the function of AI in academic integrity and student advancement.

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

Since December 2024, ChatGPT had over 300 million people using the AI chatbot every week and 1 billion messages sent every day around the world.

Decline of scholastic rigor

University lecturers are progressively worried about trainees sending AI-generated assignments without genuinely comprehending the content.

Dr. Felix Echekoba, a lecturer at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, expressed his concerns to Nairametrics about trainees increasingly counting on ChatGPT, only to battle with responding to basic questions when evaluated.

"Many trainees copy from ChatGPT and submit polished assignments, however when asked basic concerns, they go blank. It's disappointing because education is about discovering, not just passing courses," he stated.

- Prof. Nwaogwugwu pointed out that the increasing variety of first-rate graduates can not be completely credited to AI but confessed that even high-performing trainees use these tools.
"A first-rate trainee is a top-notch trainee, AI or not, however that doesn't mean they don't cheat. The advantages of AI might be peripheral, but it is making students dependent and less analytical," he said.

- Another lecturer, 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 utilizing AI lazily. Some lecturers, out of their own laziness, create lesson notes, course describes, marking schemes, and even examination concerns with AI without examining them. Students in turn utilize AI to produce responses. It's a cycle of laziness and it is killing genuine learning," he lamented.

Students' viewpoints on use

Students, on the other hand, say AI has actually enhanced their knowing experience by making academic materials more easy to understand and available.

- Eniola Arowosafe, a 300-level Business Administration student at Unilag, akropolistravel.com shared how AI has actually substantially assisted her knowing by breaking down complex terms and providing summaries of lengthy texts.
"AI helped me comprehend things more quickly, especially when handling complex subjects," she explained.

However, she recalled an instance when she used AI to submit her project, just for her lecturer to right away recognize that it was generated by ChatGPT and reject it. Eniola noted that it was a good-bad result.

- Bryan Okwuba, who just recently finished with a first-class degree in Pharmacy Technology from the University of Lagos, strongly thinks that his academic success wasn't due to any AI tool. He attributes his outstanding grades to actively engaging by asking concerns and focusing on locations that lecturers emphasize in class, as they are frequently reflected in exam questions.
"It's everything about existing, taking note, and tapping into the wealth of understanding shared by my associates," he stated,

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

Balancing AI's function in education

Experts think the solution lies in AI literacy