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

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming education while making learning more available but also triggering debates on its impact.

While students hail AI tools like ChatGPT for boosting their learning experience, lecturers are raising issues about the growing reliance on AI, which they argue fosters laziness and undermines academic integrity, especially with many trainees unable to defend their projects or given works.

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

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"I gave a project to my MBA students, and out of over 100 trainees, about 40% sent the specific very same answers. These students did not even understand each other, however they all utilized the same AI tool to produce their responses," he stated.

He kept in mind that this trend is common amongst both undergraduate and postgraduate students however is especially worrying in part-time and distance learning programs.

"AI is a severe challenge when it pertains to tasks. Many trainees no longer believe critically-they simply go on the internet, create responses, and submit," he added.

Surprisingly, some lecturers are likewise implicated of over-relying on AI, setting a cycle where both educators and students turn to AI for convenience instead of intellectual rigor.

This dispute raises vital concerns about the role of AI in academic integrity and trainee development.

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

Since December 2024, ChatGPT had more than 300 million people utilizing the AI chatbot each week and 1 billion messages sent out every day all over the world.

Decline of academic rigor

University speakers are progressively worried about students sending AI-generated projects without truly comprehending the content.

Dr. Felix Echekoba, a speaker at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, expressed his concerns to Nairametrics about trainees progressively relying on ChatGPT, just to fight with addressing standard questions when tested.

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

- Prof. Nwaogwugwu mentioned that the increasing number of first-rate graduates can not be totally credited to AI however admitted that even high-performing trainees use these tools.
"A first-rate trainee is a top-notch trainee, AI or not, but that does not indicate they don't cheat. The advantages of AI might be peripheral, however it is making students reliant and less analytical," he stated.

- Another lecturer, Dr. Ereke, from Ebonyi State University, raised a different concern that some themselves are guilty of the very same practice.
"It's not just students using AI slackly. Some lecturers, out of their own laziness, generate lesson notes, course outlines, marking plans, and even examination concerns with AI without evaluating them. Students in turn use AI to produce answers. It's a cycle of laziness and it is eliminating real knowing," he lamented.

Students' point of views on use

Students, on the other hand, state AI has actually enhanced their learning experience by making academic products more easy to understand and available.

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

However, she remembered an instance when she used AI to send her project, just for her speaker to immediately acknowledge that it was created by ChatGPT and decline it. Eniola kept in mind that it was a good-bad impact.

- Bryan Okwuba, who just recently finished with a first-class degree in Pharmacy Technology from the University of Lagos, strongly believes that his scholastic 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 stress in class, as they are frequently shown in examination questions.
"It's all about existing, taking note, and taking advantage of the wealth of knowledge shared by my associates," he said,

- Tunde Awoshita, a final-year marketing student at UNIZIK, confesses to periodically copying straight from ChatGPT when dealing with multiple deadlines.
"To be truthful, there are times I copy straight from ChatGPT when I have multiple due dates, and I understand I'm guilty of that, many times the lecturers don't get to read through them, however AI has likewise helped me find out much faster."

Balancing AI's function in education

Experts believe the option depends on AI literacy