Lecturers’ Awareness of Artificial Intelligence Tools for Teaching and Research in Alvan Ikoku Federal University of Education, Nigeria

Abstract

Technology integration into curriculum no doubt has so many benefits that lecturers in tertiary educational institutions can derive. This study examined lecturers’ awareness of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools for teaching and research at Alvan Ikoku Federal University of Education Owerri Nigeria. The AI tools examined in the study include ChatGPT, PowerPoint Speaker Coach Quillbot, Perplexity, Scholarcy, Gradescope, Mendeley Gemini, MATHia, ChatPDF, Consensus, Research Rabbit, Class Point and Scite. Three research questions and two research hypotheses guided the study. The population of study comprised lecturers in the university. Data for the study was collected using researchers developed questionnaire tagged Lecturers’ Awareness of Artificial Intelligence Tools for Teaching and Research Questionnaire (LAAITTRQ) on WhatsApp. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer research questions while independent samples t-test statistics and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) test were employed to test the formulated hypotheses at a 0.05 level of significance. Findings reveal that lecturers are aware of AI tools for teaching and research. Furthermore, it was discovered that there was no significant difference in awareness according to gender. However, significant differences in awareness exist according to teaching experience with the least experienced lecturers having awareness mean scores higher than the most experienced and the moderately experienced. Based on the findings, the researchers recommended that workshops and training on the use of AI tools in teaching and research should be organized in the university to boost their knowledge and skills among others.