LECTURERS’ AWARENESS AND UTILIZATION OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AS A PROBLEM-SOLVING TOOL FOR EFFECTIVE SERVICE DELIVERY IN PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES IN BAYELSA STATE

Abstract

The study investigated lecturers’ awareness and utilization of artificial intelligence as a problem-solving tool for effective service delivery in public Universities in Bayelsa State. Three research questions and corresponding hypotheses guided the study. The design used in the study was descriptive survey. The population of the study was all the 1,082 academic staff of selected public Universities in Bayelsa State while 292 staff consisting of 235 males and 57 females were sampled for the study using stratified random sampling technique. The instrument used for data gathering was a 15-item questionnaire named “Lecturers’ Awareness and Utilization of Artificial Intelligence as a Problem-Solving Tool for Effective Service Delivery Questionnaire” (LAUAIPSTESDQ) which was face and content validated by three experts in Educational Management at Niger Delta University while the reliability was estimated as 0.84 using Cronbach Alpha statistics. Out of the 292 copies of questionnaire administered, 279 copies from 226 males and 53 females which represented 95.5% were retrieved and used for analysis. The research questions were answered using mean and standard deviation while the hypotheses were tested using z-test at 0.05 level of significance. The result of the study indicated that lecturers demonstrated the highest awareness regarding the use of ChatGPT for generating text related contents. The item indicating high utilization was using AI for the development of lecture notes. The most critical barriers identified were inadequate funding of AI enabled resources and inadequate training on how to maximize the potential of AI. The study recommended lecturers should be trained in responsible use of AI and adequate sensitization should be provided on this as it will contribute to service efficiency.