A leading expert in Artificial Intelligence and the provost of the College of Education, Hong, Adamawa State, Professor Benson Yusuf Baha, has urged the inclusion of AI in teaching and learning across higher education institutions in Nigeria.
He emphasized the transformative impact this integration could have, particularly in colleges of education responsible for preparing teachers for basic education.
Speaking at the maiden biennial conference of the Committee of Provosts of Colleges of Education in Nigeria, Professor Baha presented a lead paper titled ‘The Promise and Peril of Artificial Intelligence in Education: Towards a Framework to Regulate the Ethical Consequence of AI in Nigeria.’
He underscored the positive influence AI could exert on traditional teaching methods, fostering innovation and accelerating access to education.
According to Professor Baha, AI has the potential to address challenges in education and contribute to achieving sustainable development goals.
He stressed the urgency of leveraging AI’s benefits in developing countries like Nigeria, where there is a low student-to-teacher ratio and limited access to quality education in rural areas.
The professor highlighted several advantages of integrating AI in education, including personalized learning, robot-mediated learning, automated assessment, educational data mining, access to research tools, and administrative efficiency.
However, he also emphasized the need for extensive training for teachers to comprehend AI technology and its potential limitations.
“Hence, this calls for massive training of teachers in our colleges,” Professor Baha stated.
He recommended that the government should provide digital infrastructure to colleges of education, ensuring they can harness the benefits of Internet technologies and AI in teaching and learning.
Additionally, he urged the establishment of micro-teaching laboratories with AI tools to bridge the digital divide within learning environments.
The CPCEN conference theme, ‘Strengthening the Nigerian Education System for Functionality, Employability, and Global Relevance in the 21st Century,’ was addressed by Professor Kunle Filani, the former provost of the Federal College of Education, Abeokuta.
He emphasized the need for functional education to promote employability, entrepreneurship, and global relevance.
The conference also discussed the recent upgrade of colleges of education to a dual mode and the integration of AI, acknowledging both the excitement and trepidation associated with these developments.
The provost of the Federal College of Education and chairman of CPCEN, Professor Faruk Rashid Haruna, expressed optimism that the conference would generate workable recommendations and solutions to address contemporary challenges in education.
