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AI has become one of the most disruptive technologies to affect education in the 21st Century. There are a lot of amazing things about AI and it can help people learn more easily. However, it has also caused a lot more students to cheat.
This is causing more schools throughout Nigeria to start using AI detection tools. They have found that this can help stop students from cheating on their exams and term papers.
More Schools in Nigeria Forced to Use AI Detectors to Deal with Cheating
Back in February, a major Nigerian news site talked about these issues. They interviewed professors from schools such as the University of Lagos to learn more about it.
One professor said that this has become a problem with both part-time and full-time students. However, he pointed out that these issues were most common with students in distance learning programs.
There has been some pushback from students against professors complaining about them using AI. A lot of professors themselves are accused of using AI to help develop their curriculum, which means that they have been accused of hypocrisy for complaining about students doing the same thing.
While some of the complaints about hypocrisy may be valid, there are also plenty of reasons teachers don’t want students to rely too much on AI. This is especially true when students are taking their exams.
Dr. Tunji Alausa, the Minister of Education for Nigeria, has stated that the topic of AI in education has become pretty nuanced. While AI can be a shortcut to help students cheat, it can also be a helpful learning aid. This means that schools should focus on teaching AI literacy while still have guardrails in place to prevent it from being used inappropriately.
This is why more schools have started using AI detectors. One of the most popular is called
aidetector.com. They help them identify when students are cheating with it, so they can take appropriate action.
How Can Schools Use AI Detectors Responsibly
There are clearly a lot of benefits of using AI detectors to help schools make sure that students are not cheating on their exams and papers. However, they aren’t a foolproof solution. Schools need to follow these guidelines to make sure that they are effectively catching students using AI without punishing innocent students that are flagged by false positives.
Only Use Reliable AI Detectors
One issue that many schools have to deal with is that they often make decisions based on reports from low-quality AI detection tools. This means that educators need to do their research before using any AI detector. They will want to only use ones that have passed extensive testing to show that they don’t miss too many AI texts that are scanned and also don’t false report text as being made with AI when it is not.
Use Multiple AI Tools Before Accusing a Student of Cheating
Once educators have identified some of the best AI detectors to use, they will want to try several of them when scanning papers that they believe may have been written with AI. Even the best tools may work flag content that others will not. They will want to avoid punishing a student if their work was only flagged by a single AI tool. If it is flagged by multiple, then it is a good idea to escalate the investigation.
Have Students Use AI Tools in Class to Get an Understanding of their Work
Educators should also have their students complete assignments in class. They can use them as a baseline for the student’s writing style and understanding. They may need to be more lenient with students that write in a way that tends to trigger AI detection tools. They can also look for differences in their writing style between in-class assignments and those completed at home to get a sense of whether they may be using AI.
Ask Students to Explain the Material in their Exam Orally Before Punishing Them
It is also a good idea for educators to give students a chance to prove they actually understand the material in their paper. They can ask them to explain specific passages in their exams before punishing them. This will help get a better idea of whether it was flagged by mistake or the student really cheated.
Nigerian Teachers Are Going to Focus on Using AI Dettectors to Catch Cheating
Cheating has become a lot more common these days, since students can use AI to do so. The good news is that AI detection software has made it a lot easier to identify when students are using AI to do their exams. Educators are going to need to use AI detectors more in the future to catch them.
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