Expert System (AI) is reinventing education while making finding out more available however also stimulating arguments on its impact.
While students hail AI tools like ChatGPT for enhancing their learning experience, speakers are raising issues about the growing dependence on AI, which they argue fosters laziness and weakens academic integrity, specifically with many students not able to safeguard their tasks or offered works.
Prof. Isaac Nwaogwugwu, a lecturer at the University of Lagos, in an interview with Nairametrics, expressed aggravation over the growing dependence on AI-generated reactions among trainees recounting a current experience he had.
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"I provided a project to my MBA students, and out of over 100 students, about 40% submitted the specific same answers. These trainees did not even know each other, but they all utilized the very same AI tool to generate their responses," he said.
He noted that this pattern is common amongst both undergraduate and postgraduate trainees however is particularly concerning in part-time and range knowing programs.
"AI is a severe obstacle when it comes to projects. Many students no longer believe critically-they just browse the web, create responses, and send," he included.
Surprisingly, visualchemy.gallery some lecturers are likewise of over-relying on AI, setting a cycle where both educators and students turn to AI for benefit rather than intellectual rigor.
This debate raises important questions about the function 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 nation had launched policies on generative AI as of July 2023.
As of December 2024, ChatGPT had over 300 million people utilizing the AI chatbot each week and 1 billion messages sent every day around the world.
Decline of scholastic rigor
University lecturers are progressively worried about trainees submitting AI-generated assignments without truly understanding the material.
Dr. Felix Echekoba, a lecturer at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, expressed his issues to Nairametrics about trainees increasingly relying on ChatGPT, just to deal with answering standard concerns when tested.
"Many students copy from ChatGPT and send refined assignments, however when asked standard concerns, they go blank. It's frustrating since education has to do with finding out, not just passing courses," he said.
- Prof. Nwaogwugwu mentioned that the increasing variety of first-class graduates can not be totally credited to AI however confessed that even high-performing students use these tools.
"A first-class student is a top-notch trainee, AI or not, however that does not suggest they do not cheat. The advantages of AI may be peripheral, but it is making students dependent and less analytical," he stated.
- Another lecturer, Dr. Ereke, from Ebonyi State University, raised a various concern that some lecturers themselves are guilty of the very same practice.
"It's not simply trainees using AI lazily. Some speakers, out of their own laziness, produce lesson notes, course outlines, marking plans, and even examination concerns with AI without examining them. Students in turn utilize AI to create responses. It's a cycle of laziness and it is eliminating real knowing," he regreted.
Students' point of views on use
Students, on the other hand, say 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 considerably aided her learning by breaking down complex terms and supplying summaries of lengthy texts.
"AI helped me comprehend things more quickly, especially when dealing with intricate subjects," she described.
However, she remembered an instance when she utilized AI to submit her job, only for her lecturer to immediately recognize that it was generated by ChatGPT and reject it. Eniola noted that it was a good-bad result.
- Bryan Okwuba, who just recently finished with a top-notch degree in Pharmacy Technology from the University of Lagos, securely believes that his academic success wasn't due to any AI tool. He associates his exceptional grades to actively interesting by asking questions and focusing on areas that lecturers emphasize in class, as they are often reflected in examination questions.
"It's all about being present, paying attention, and using the wealth of understanding shared by my coworkers," he stated,
- Tunde Awoshita, a final-year marketing trainee at UNIZIK, confesses to occasionally copying directly from ChatGPT when facing numerous deadlines.
"To be honest, there are times I copy straight from ChatGPT when I have several deadlines, and I know I'm guilty of that, a lot of times the speakers don't get to go through them, but AI has actually also helped me discover faster."
Balancing AI's role in education
Experts believe the solution depends on AI literacy
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