Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming education while making discovering more available but likewise triggering debates on its effect.
While students hail AI tools like ChatGPT for improving their knowing experience, speakers are raising concerns about the growing dependence on AI, which they argue fosters laziness and undermines academic integrity, especially with lots of students not able to defend their assignments 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 responses amongst trainees recounting a recent experience he had.
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"I offered a task to my MBA students, and out of over 100 students, about 40% sent the exact 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 kept in mind that this trend prevails among both undergraduate and postgraduate students but is particularly concerning in part-time and distance learning programs.
"AI is a severe difficulty when it comes to projects. Many students no longer think critically-they simply browse the web, generate responses, and submit," he added.
Surprisingly, some speakers are likewise accused of over-relying on AI, setting a cycle where both educators and trainees turn to AI for benefit instead of intellectual rigor.
This debate raises important 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 launched guidelines on generative AI as of July 2023.
As of December 2024, ChatGPT had over 300 million individuals using the AI chatbot every week and 1 billion messages sent every day worldwide.
Decline of scholastic rigor
University speakers are increasingly worried about students sending AI-generated assignments without truly comprehending the content.
Dr. Felix Echekoba, a speaker at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, expressed his concerns to Nairametrics about trainees increasingly depending on ChatGPT, only to deal with answering standard questions when checked.
"Many trainees copy from ChatGPT and submit refined projects, but when asked standard questions, they go blank. It's disappointing since education has to do with learning, not simply passing courses," he stated.
- Prof. Nwaogwugwu explained that the increasing variety of first-rate graduates can not be entirely associated to AI but admitted that even high-performing students use these tools.
"A top-notch trainee is a first-class student, AI or not, but that doesn't suggest they do not cheat. The advantages of AI may be peripheral, but it is making students 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 trainees utilizing AI slackly. Some lecturers, out of their own laziness, create lesson notes, course lays out, marking schemes, and even examination questions with AI without evaluating them. Students in turn utilize AI to create answers. It's a cycle of laziness and it is eliminating genuine learning," he regreted.
Students' viewpoints on use
Students, on the other hand, say AI has actually enhanced their learning experience by making academic products more reasonable and available.
- Eniola Arowosafe, a 300-level Business Administration trainee at Unilag, shared how AI has considerably assisted her learning by breaking down complex terms and supplying summaries of prolonged texts.
"AI assisted me comprehend things more quickly, especially when handling complex topics," she discussed.
However, she remembered a circumstances when she used AI to submit her job, only for her lecturer to instantly recognize that it was generated by ChatGPT and reject it. Eniola kept in mind that it was a good-bad result.
- Bryan Okwuba, who just recently graduated with a first-class 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 outstanding grades to actively interesting by asking concerns and focusing on locations that speakers highlight in class, as they are typically shown in test questions.
"It's everything about being present, taking note, and tapping into the wealth of knowledge shared by my colleagues," he said,
- Tunde Awoshita, a final-year marketing trainee at UNIZIK, admits to sometimes copying straight from ChatGPT when facing numerous due dates.
"To be sincere, there are times I copy directly from ChatGPT when I have multiple deadlines, and I understand I'm guilty of that, most times the speakers don't get to review them, but AI has likewise helped me learn much faster."
Balancing AI's function in education
Experts think the option depends on AI literacy
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