Speaker
Description
Peni, H. Y.
FCE T Bichi
penihy@gmail.com
Track: AI, Emerging Technologies and Future Learning
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming global higher education, yet its integration within Nigeria’s teacher education system remains inadequate despite its potential to bridge the digital divide. This situation has created a divide between students who are ‘natives’ in the digital age and the majority of teacher educators who are often ‘aliens’ of the digital age. There is therefore the need to device an approach to bridge this gap so as to enable the Teacher Educators to be of age at introducing the teacher trainees to the use of emerging technologies in their mandates. This study investigates the efficacy of AI enriched instructional package on Teacher Educators Proficiency in classroom instruction. 30 teacher Educators were exposed to the use of AI enriched instructions for 2 days. They were later observed in their various classrooms to see to the effectiveness of their instructions. They were also interviewed on the awareness, skills level and utilization of AI-driven pedagogical tools as well as digital readiness and instructional efficacy across Colleges of Education in North - West Nigerian. Using a convergent parallel mixed-methods design. Quantitative data were gathered through Classroom Observation Schedule and AI-readiness scale. Findings indicate a statistically significant increase in teacher educators’ confidence and capability to integrate AI tools for teaching, automated assessment, and lesson planning. The study concludes that bridging the digital divide in Nigerian higher education requires more than technical access; it demands culturally responsive, AI-integrated teacher training curricula. Keyword: Teacher Educators, Artificial Intelligence, digital divide