Nigerian Students Turn to aI For Tests Answers, Lecturers Raise Alarm
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Expert System (AI) is revolutionizing education while making finding out more accessible but also stimulating arguments on its effect.

While students hail AI tools like ChatGPT for improving their knowing experience, speakers are raising issues about the growing reliance on AI, which they argue fosters laziness and undermines scholastic integrity, especially with lots of students unable to protect their projects or offered works.

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

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

He noted that this pattern prevails among both undergraduate and postgraduate trainees however is especially worrying in part-time and distance learning programs.

AI is a major challenge when it concerns assignments. Many trainees no longer think critically-they just go online, create responses, and submit,” he included.

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

This debate raises critical concerns about the function of AI in scholastic stability and trainee development.

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

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

Decline of scholastic rigor

University lecturers are significantly concerned about trainees sending AI-generated assignments without genuinely comprehending the material.

Dr. Felix Echekoba, wiki.die-karte-bitte.de a speaker at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, expressed his issues to Nairametrics about trainees progressively relying on ChatGPT, just to battle with addressing fundamental concerns when evaluated.

“Many trainees copy from ChatGPT and send sleek projects, but when asked basic concerns, they go blank. It’s disappointing since education has to do with finding out, not just passing courses,” he stated.

- Prof. Nwaogwugwu explained that the increasing number of first-class graduates can not be completely attributed to AI however admitted that even high-performing trainees utilize these tools.
“A first-class trainee is a first-rate student, AI or not, but that does not imply they do not cheat. The benefits of AI may be peripheral, however it is making students dependent and less analytical,” he stated.

- Another lecturer, Dr. Ereke, from Ebonyi State University, raised a different issue that some lecturers themselves are guilty of the exact same practice.
“It’s not simply trainees using AI slackly. Some speakers, out of their own laziness, generate lesson notes, course lays out, marking schemes, and even exam concerns with AI without reviewing them. Students in turn use AI to produce 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 improved their learning experience by making academic materials more understandable and accessible.

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

However, she recalled an instance when she utilized AI to send her job, only for her speaker to instantly acknowledge that it was created by ChatGPT and decline it. Eniola kept in mind that it was a good-bad impact.

- Bryan Okwuba, who recently finished with a first-rate degree in Pharmacy Technology from the University of Lagos, securely believes that his academic success wasn’t due to any AI tool. He attributes his exceptional grades to actively engaging by asking concerns and focusing on locations that lecturers highlight in class, as they are frequently reflected in test questions.
“It’s everything about existing, paying attention, and taking advantage of the wealth of understanding shared by my associates,” he said,

- Tunde Awoshita, a final-year marketing student at UNIZIK, confesses to periodically copying directly from ChatGPT when facing numerous deadlines.
“To be honest, 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 speakers do not get to check out them, but AI has actually also assisted me find out quicker.”

Balancing AI’s function in education

Experts believe the solution lies in AI literacy