GitLab

Expert System (AI) is reinventing education while making finding out more available however also sparking arguments on its impact.

While trainees hail AI tools like ChatGPT for boosting their learning experience, speakers are raising issues about the growing dependence on AI, which they argue fosters and undermines scholastic stability, particularly with lots of trainees not able to safeguard their projects or given works.

Prof. Isaac Nwaogwugwu, a lecturer at the University of Lagos, in an interview with Nairametrics, revealed frustration over the growing reliance on AI-generated responses amongst students stating a recent experience he had.

RelatedStories

Avoid sharing personal information that can recognize you with AI tools- Expert warns

Chinese AI app DeepSeek triggers international tech selloff, obstacles U.S. AI supremacy

"I offered a task to my MBA students, and out of over 100 students, about 40% sent the exact very same responses. These trainees did not even know each other, however they all utilized the exact same AI tool to generate their responses," he said.

He kept in mind that this pattern is common among both undergraduate and postgraduate students but is especially concerning in part-time and range learning programs.

"AI is a severe difficulty when it pertains to assignments. Many students no longer think critically-they simply go online, create responses, and send," he included.

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

This argument raises crucial concerns about the role of AI in scholastic stability and student advancement.

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

Since December 2024, ChatGPT had over 300 million individuals using the AI chatbot weekly and 1 billion messages sent out every day worldwide.

Decline of scholastic rigor

University lecturers are increasingly worried about trainees sending AI-generated assignments without really comprehending the content.

Dr. Felix Echekoba, a lecturer at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, expressed his issues to Nairametrics about students progressively counting on ChatGPT, just to fight with addressing fundamental concerns when evaluated.

"Many trainees copy from ChatGPT and submit refined tasks, however when asked fundamental concerns, they go blank. It's frustrating due to the fact that education is about discovering, not simply passing courses," he stated.

- Prof. Nwaogwugwu explained that the increasing number of first-class graduates can not be totally credited to AI however confessed that even high-performing trainees utilize these tools.
"A superior trainee is a superior trainee, AI or not, however that does not indicate they do not cheat. The advantages of AI might be peripheral, but it is making trainees dependent and less analytical," he said.

- Another speaker, Dr. Ereke, from Ebonyi State University, raised a various concern that some speakers themselves are guilty of the same practice.
"It's not just students utilizing AI slackly. Some speakers, out of their own laziness, produce lesson notes, course details, marking schemes, and even exam questions with AI without evaluating them. Students in turn utilize AI to create answers. It's a cycle of laziness and it is killing real knowing," he regreted.

Students' viewpoints on usage

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

- Eniola Arowosafe, a 300-level Business Administration student at Unilag, shared how AI has substantially helped her knowing by breaking down complex terms and providing summaries of prolonged texts.
"AI helped me understand things more easily, specifically when handling complicated subjects," she described.

However, she recalled an instance when she used AI to send her job, just for her speaker to immediately acknowledge that it was created by ChatGPT and reject it. Eniola noted that it was a good-bad effect.

- Bryan Okwuba, who recently graduated with a top-notch 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 engaging by asking concerns and concentrating on areas that speakers emphasize in class, as they are frequently shown in examination concerns.
"It's everything about being present, paying attention, and tapping into the wealth of knowledge shared by my colleagues," he stated,

- Tunde Awoshita, a final-year marketing trainee at UNIZIK, confesses to sometimes copying directly from ChatGPT when facing numerous due dates.
"To be honest, there are times I copy directly from ChatGPT when I have several deadlines, and I know I'm guilty of that, most times the lecturers do not get to go through them, but AI has likewise assisted me find out quicker."

Balancing AI's function in education

Experts believe the service lies in AI literacy; teaching trainees and lecturers how to utilize AI as a learning help instead of a shortcut.

- Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, highlighted the combination of AI into Nigeria's education system, worrying the importance of a balanced approach that preserves human involvement while utilizing AI to enhance discovering outcomes.
"As we navigate the rapidly developing landscape of Expert system (AI), it is crucial that we prioritise human company in education. We need to guarantee that AI enhances, instead of changes, teachers' important role in forming young minds," he stated

Concerns over AI in Learning

Dorcas Akintade, a cybersecurity improvement specialist, addressed growing concerns concerning making use of expert system (AI) tools such as ChatGPT and galgbtqhistoryproject.org their prospective threats to the educational system.

- She acknowledged the advantages of AI, forum.altaycoins.com however, stressed the need for caution in its usage.
- Akintade highlighted the increasing hesitance amongst educators and schools toward incorporating AI tools in finding out environments. She identified two main reasons that AI tools are dissuaded in academic settings: security threats and plagiarism. She discussed that AI tools like ChatGPT are trained to react based upon user interactions, which may not align with the expectations of teachers.
"It is not taking a look at it as a tutor," Akintade said, discussing that AI doesn't accommodate specific mentor techniques.

Plagiarism is another issue, as AI pulls from existing data, typically without proper attribution

"A lot of people require to understand, like I stated, this is information that has actually been trained on. It is not simply bringing things out from the sky. It's bringing info that some other individuals are fed into it, which in essence suggests that is another person's documents," she cautioned.

- Additionally, Akintade highlighted an early concern in AI advancement called "hallucination," where AI tools would produce information that was not factual.
"Hallucination meant that it was highlighting information from the air. If ChatGPT might not get that info from you, it was going to make one up," she explained.

She suggested "grounding" AI by supplying it with specific information to prevent such mistakes.

Navigating AI in Education

Akintade argued that prohibiting AI tools outright is not the solution, especially when AI provides an opportunity to leapfrog traditional instructional methods.

- She thinks that consistently reinforcing key info assists people keep in mind and avoid making mistakes when confronted with difficulties.
"Immersion brings conversion. When you inform people the exact same thing over and over once again, when they will make the mistakes, then they'll keep in mind."

She likewise empasized the requirement for clear policies and treatments within schools, noting that lots of schools ought to attend to the individuals and process elements of this use.

- Prof. Nwaogwugwu has resorted to in-class assignments and tests to counter AI-driven academic dishonesty.
"Now, I mainly use assignments to make sure trainees provide initial work." However, he acknowledged that managing big classes makes this method tough.

"If you set complicated concerns, trainees won't be able to use AI to get direct responses," he described.

He emphasized the need for universities to train speakers on crafting examination concerns that AI can not quickly solve while acknowledging that some lecturers battle to counter AI misuse due to a lack of technological awareness. "Some lecturers are analogue," he said.

- Nigeria released a draft National AI Strategy in August 2024, concentrating on ethical AI development with fairness, openness, accountability, and privacy at its core.
- UNESCO in a report calls for the policy of AI in education, encouraging organizations to audit algorithms, dokuwiki.stream information, and outputs of generative AI tools to ensure they fulfill ethical requirements, safeguard user information, and filter unsuitable content.
- It stresses the need to evaluate the long-term impact of AI on crucial abilities like thinking and imagination while developing policies that line up with ethical structures. Additionally, UNESCO suggests implementing age limitations for GenAI use to protect more youthful students and protect vulnerable groups.
- For governments, it advised embracing a coordinated national method to managing GenAI, consisting of establishing oversight bodies and lining up guidelines with existing information defense and privacy laws. It stresses assessing AI risks, implementing more stringent rules for high-risk applications, and guaranteeing nationwide data ownership.