ASSESSING STUDENTS’ USE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE FOR ACADEMIC PURPOSES IN NIGERIAN UNIVERSITIES: IMPLICATIONS FOR EDUCATORS AND POLICY-MAKERS
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.48047/bgq85797Keywords:
Artificial Intelligence, AI tools, awareness, learning, perception, use of AIAbstract
The use of artificial intelligence (AI) in education is an interesting concept which is meant to revolutionize and improved capabilities of students and educators to carry out their responsibilities more effectively and efficiently. This study assesses the level of awareness, perceptions and use of AI for academic purposes among the students of the Faculty of Education, University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Four research questions and three hypotheses guided the study. Structured questionnaire was developed and administered to a total of 336 students randomly selected from the faculty while adopting cross-sectional survey design. The data were analyzed using frequencies, percentages, means, standard deviation for the research questions while ANOVA and t-test were employed as statistical test of significance for the hypotheses. The awareness of AI tools for education purposes is low among the students and generative AI like ChatGPT is the most used for academic purposes. The perception is positive but with reservations about the impact on the originality of academic outputs, transparency and ethical issues. At 0.05 level of significance, students’ perception and use of AI tools is not influenced by year of study while there is significant difference (p < 0.05) in AI awareness level due gender. The males have higher level of awareness than the females. Control and censorship structures is needed from educators and policy-makers for effective management of the use of AI for academic purposes.
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