Artificial Intelligence (AI) is reinventing education while making finding out more accessible however likewise triggering debates on its impact.
While students hail AI tools like ChatGPT for improving their learning experience, speakers are raising concerns about the growing dependence on AI, which they argue fosters laziness and undermines scholastic integrity, especially with lots of students not able to protect their assignments or qoocle.com given works.
Prof. Isaac Nwaogwugwu, a speaker at the University of Lagos, in an interview with Nairametrics, revealed aggravation over the growing dependence on AI-generated responses amongst trainees recounting a current experience he had.
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"I gave an assignment to my MBA students, and out of over 100 students, about 40% submitted the precise same answers. These students did not even understand each other, however they all utilized the very same AI tool to produce their responses," he said.
He kept in mind that this pattern is common amongst both undergraduate and postgraduate students but is specifically worrying in part-time and range learning programs.
"AI is a severe challenge when it comes to projects. Many students no longer believe critically-they just go on the internet, generate answers, and send," he included.
Surprisingly, some lecturers are also accused of over-relying on AI, setting a cycle where both educators and students turn to AI for benefit instead of intellectual rigor.
This dispute raises important questions about the role of AI in scholastic stability and trainee advancement.
According to a UNESCO report, pl.velo.wiki while ChatGPT reached 100 million monthly active users in January 2023, just one nation had released policies on generative AI since July 2023.
Since December 2024, ChatGPT had more than 300 million people using the AI chatbot weekly and 1 billion messages sent every day all over the world.
Decline of scholastic rigor
University lecturers are increasingly worried about students submitting AI-generated projects without genuinely comprehending the material.
Dr. Felix Echekoba, a lecturer at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, expressed his issues to Nairametrics about trainees progressively counting on ChatGPT, only to deal with addressing standard questions when tested.
"Many students copy from ChatGPT and send refined tasks, however when asked basic concerns, they go blank. It's frustrating because education is about finding out, not just passing courses," he said.
- Prof. Nwaogwugwu pointed out that the increasing variety of superior graduates can not be totally associated to AI however confessed that even high-performing students utilize these tools.
"A top-notch student is a top-notch student, AI or not, however that doesn't indicate they don't cheat. The advantages of AI may be peripheral, however it is making trainees dependent and less analytical," he stated.
- 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 just students utilizing AI slackly. Some lecturers, out of their own laziness, generate lesson notes, course describes, marking plans, and even examination concerns with AI without evaluating them. Students in turn use AI to produce responses. It's a cycle of laziness and it is killing genuine knowing," he regreted.
Students' perspectives on use
Students, on the other hand, say AI has actually improved their knowing experience by making scholastic products more reasonable and available.
- Eniola Arowosafe, a 300-level Business Administration student at Unilag, shared how AI has actually significantly aided her knowing by breaking down complex terms and providing summaries of prolonged texts.
"AI helped me comprehend things more quickly, especially when handling intricate subjects," she described.
However, she recalled a circumstances when she used AI to submit her task, only for her speaker to instantly recognize that it was produced by ChatGPT and decline it. Eniola noted that it was a good-bad effect.
- Bryan Okwuba, who just recently graduated with a first-rate degree in Pharmacy Technology from the University of Lagos, firmly thinks that his scholastic success wasn't due to any AI tool. He attributes his impressive grades to actively interesting by asking concerns and focusing on areas that speakers stress in class, as they are often reflected in test questions.
"It's everything about being present, focusing, and tapping into the wealth of knowledge shared by my coworkers," he said,
- Tunde Awoshita, a final-year marketing trainee at UNIZIK, confesses to sometimes copying directly from ChatGPT when dealing with multiple due dates.
"To be truthful, there are times I copy straight from ChatGPT when I have numerous deadlines, and I know I'm guilty of that, a lot of times the lecturers don't get to check out them, however AI has likewise assisted me discover much faster."
Balancing AI's function in education
Experts believe the service lies in AI literacy; teaching students and lecturers how to utilize AI as a learning help rather than a faster way.
- Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, highlighted the integration of AI into Nigeria's education system, stressing the importance of a balanced approach that maintains human involvement while utilizing AI to enhance discovering results.
"As we navigate the rapidly evolving landscape of Artificial Intelligence (AI), it is important that we prioritise human agency in education. We need to guarantee that AI enhances, instead of replaces, teachers' essential function in shaping young minds," he said
Dorcas Akintade, a cybersecurity change expert, dealt with growing concerns relating to making use of expert system (AI) tools such as ChatGPT and their potential dangers to the instructional system.
- She acknowledged the benefits of AI, however, highlighted the requirement for care in its usage.
- Akintade highlighted the increasing resistance among teachers and schools towards including AI tools in learning environments. She recognized 2 main reasons that AI tools are discouraged in academic settings: security threats and plagiarism. She discussed that AI tools like ChatGPT are trained to react based on user interactions, which may not align with the expectations of educators.
"It is not looking at it as a tutor," Akintade stated, describing that AI doesn't deal with specific mentor approaches.
Plagiarism is another issue, as AI pulls from existing data, often without correct attribution
"A lot of individuals require to understand, like I said, this is data that has actually been trained on. It is not simply bringing things out from the sky. It's bringing info that some other individuals are fed into it, which in essence indicates that is another person's paperwork," she warned.
- Additionally, Akintade highlighted an early issue in AI advancement referred to as "hallucination," where AI tools would produce details that was not accurate.
"Hallucination indicated that it was highlighting info from the air. If ChatGPT could not get that info from you, it was going to make one up," she described.
She suggested "grounding" AI by offering it with particular details to prevent such mistakes.
Navigating AI in Education
Akintade argued that banning AI tools outright is not the solution, particularly when AI presents an opportunity to leapfrog standard instructional methods.
- She thinks that consistently reinforcing crucial info helps people keep in mind and avoid making errors when faced with challenges.
"Immersion brings conversion. When you inform individuals the exact same thing over and over once again, when they will make the errors, then they'll keep in mind."
She also empasized the need for clear policies and procedures within schools, keeping in mind that lots of schools must attend to the individuals and procedure aspects of this use.
- Prof. Nwaogwugwu has turned to in-class tasks and tests to counter AI-driven academic dishonesty.
"Now, I generally use tasks to make sure students supply initial work." However, he acknowledged that handling big classes makes this method tough.
"If you set intricate concerns, trainees will not have the ability to utilize AI to get direct answers," he explained.
He stressed the requirement for universities to train lecturers on crafting exam concerns that AI can not easily resolve while acknowledging that some lecturers battle to counter AI misuse due to a lack of technological awareness. "Some speakers are analogue," he stated.
- Nigeria launched a draft National AI Strategy in August 2024, concentrating on ethical AI development with fairness, transparency, accountability, and privacy at its core.
- UNESCO in a report calls for the guideline of AI in education, advising organizations to examine algorithms, data, and outputs of generative AI tools to guarantee they meet ethical standards, protect user information, and filter unsuitable content.
- It stresses the requirement to assess the long-term impact of AI on crucial skills like thinking and creativity while creating policies that line up with ethical frameworks. Additionally, UNESCO recommends implementing age restrictions for GenAI usage to safeguard more youthful students and photorum.eclat-mauve.fr protect susceptible groups.
- For federal governments, it recommended adopting a collaborated nationwide method to controling GenAI, consisting of developing oversight bodies and aligning regulations with existing information protection and privacy laws. It highlights evaluating AI threats, enforcing more stringent rules for high-risk applications, and making sure nationwide data ownership.
