Speaker
Description
Ausa, A. S.
Federal College of Education, Gidan Madi, Sokoto
abubakarshehuausa@fcegm.edu.ng
Track: AI, Emerging Technologies and Future Learning
The emergence of Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools has transformed academic writing practices among university students worldwide by providing proofreading, summarization, information retrieval etc. This study aimed to assess the level of awareness, extent of usage, and perceptions of Generative AI for academic writing among students of Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto (UDUS). A cross-sectional survey was employed involving 430 undergraduate students selected from four faculties. Respondents were drawn from different levels using a structured questionnaire. The findings revealed a high level of awareness among Faculty of Science students (94.2%), Management Sciences (89.8%), Law (84.5%), and Arts (79.6%). Awareness increased progressively across levels of study, from 69.4% among 100-level to 95.7% among 500-level students. Similarly, 74.6% reported using Generative AI for academic writing activities (78.2%), summarization (73.5%), idea generation (71.4%), literature searches (67.8%), and proofreading (63.9%). Students in the Faculty of Science recorded the highest usage (82.1%), Faculty of Arts reported the lowest usage rate (61.3%). However, 76.8% of respondents considered Generative AI are useful for improving writing, creativity and productivity. Perception varied across faculties, with Science students demonstrating the most perception (84.6%), Management Sciences (79.4%) and Law (74.8%), while Arts students recorded the lowest (62.7%). Major concerns identified were plagiarism (68.4%), misinformation (60.2%), academic dishonesty (58.1%), and overdependence on AI technologies (55.9%). In conclusion Generative AI has gained substantial acceptance among undergraduate students of UDUS. The study recommends the need for targeted AI literacy programmes, institutional guidelines and ethical considerations to promote responsible use of Generative AI in higher education.
Keywords: Academic, Awareness, Artificial Intelligence, Generative, Higher Education, Sokoto