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

Expert System (AI) is transforming education while making discovering more accessible but likewise stimulating debates on its impact.

While trainees hail AI tools like ChatGPT for improving their learning experience, lecturers are raising issues about the growing dependence on AI, photorum.eclat-mauve.fr which they argue fosters laziness and weakens scholastic stability, particularly with many trainees not able to defend their tasks or provided works.

Prof. Isaac Nwaogwugwu, a speaker at the University of Lagos, in an interview with Nairametrics, revealed disappointment over the growing dependence on AI-generated reactions among students recounting a recent experience he had.

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

He noted that this trend is common among both undergraduate and classifieds.ocala-news.com postgraduate students however is especially worrying in part-time and range learning programs.

"AI is a severe difficulty when it concerns projects. Many students no longer believe critically-they simply go online, create responses, 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 rather than intellectual rigor.

This argument raises vital concerns about the role of AI in scholastic integrity and trainee development.

According to a UNESCO report, while ChatGPT reached 100 million regular monthly active users in January 2023, just one country had released regulations on generative AI as of 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 increasingly concerned about students sending AI-generated assignments without really understanding the content.

Dr. Felix Echekoba, a lecturer at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, revealed his concerns to Nairametrics about trainees significantly depending on ChatGPT, just to deal with answering fundamental concerns when tested.

"Many students copy from ChatGPT and submit polished projects, but when asked fundamental questions, they go blank. It's disappointing due to the fact that education has to do with finding out, not simply passing courses," he said.

- Prof. Nwaogwugwu pointed out that the increasing number of superior graduates can not be entirely credited to AI but admitted that even high-performing students use these tools.
"A top-notch student is a first-class student, AI or not, but that does not mean they don't cheat. The advantages of AI might be peripheral, but it is making trainees reliant 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 very same practice.
"It's not simply trainees utilizing AI slackly. Some lecturers, out of their own laziness, produce lesson notes, course lays out, marking schemes, and even examination concerns with AI without examining them. Students in turn use AI to produce responses. It's a cycle of laziness and it is killing real knowing," he regreted.

Students' perspectives on use

Students, on the other hand, say AI has enhanced their learning experience by making scholastic materials more understandable and available.

- Eniola Arowosafe, a 300-level Business Administration trainee at Unilag, shared how AI has actually substantially assisted her learning by breaking down complex terms and providing summaries of prolonged texts.
"AI assisted me understand things more quickly, especially when handling complicated topics," she explained.

However, she remembered a circumstances when she utilized AI to submit her task, just for her speaker to immediately acknowledge that it was generated by ChatGPT and reject 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, strongly thinks that his academic success wasn't due to any AI tool. He attributes his exceptional grades to actively engaging by asking questions and focusing on areas that lecturers stress in class, as they are typically shown in exam questions.
"It's all about being present, focusing, and using the wealth of knowledge shared by my coworkers," he stated,

- Tunde Awoshita, a final-year marketing trainee at UNIZIK, admits to sometimes copying directly from ChatGPT when facing numerous 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, many times the lecturers do not get to check out them, but AI has also helped me discover faster."

Balancing AI's role in education

Experts believe the option depends on AI literacy