Just over two-thirds of lecturer participants in a new study focusing on higher education in Morocco said they have used artificial intelligence (AI) tools in their teaching and research, but 97% felt they needed more training, are concerned about the ethical use of AI and recommend the development of public policy for the use of AI in higher education.
In the same study, students reported using AI tools for tasks like information retrieval, translation, and writing improvement and 75% of the student respondents believe the tool is improving the quality of learning.
The study, titled ‘The impact of artificial intelligence on research and higher education in Morocco’, has been published online in the Journal of Education and Learning.
Authored by Ghizlane Moukhliss, Khalid Lahyani and Ghizlane Diab from the Hassan II University of Casablanca in Morocco, the study examined AI’s transformative influence, benefits, challenges and future potential in Moroccan universities through a questionnaire that was completed by 2,000 lecturers and students at 12 higher education institutions.
Academic community
The survey indicated that 67% of the lecturer participants had used AI-based tools in their teaching and research.
Whereas 70% of teachers are able to use a computer or mobile device (cellphone, tablet) independently, only 38% of those surveyed were somewhat familiar with AI tools, while 29% were moderately familiar and 10% were not at all familiar with the tools.
The study also found that AI is used in a few courses at just over half of the institutions included in the study, while 35% of educational institutions have not adopted AI as a tool yet.
While some teachers acknowledged the usefulness of AI tools, others expressed concerns. These concerns included the need for training and a fear of a lack of control over the technology.
With regard to their anxiety emanating from AI in higher education, 53% of teachers are apprehensive about using an AI tool for teaching, 42% are worried about using it incorrectly, and 64% believed they could easily learn how to use it.
The study showed that 97% of teachers felt they needed additional training to make better use of AI in their field, and 91% believed that AI has influenced or improved the quality of their research activities to varying degrees.
The survey showed that teachers are ready to make efforts to incorporate AI in teaching. More than 64% believed it would be easy to learn how to use an AI tool. In addition, 55% affirmed [that training] would help them to clearly understand their role as a teacher in the use of an AI tool.
A total of 95% of the participant teachers indicated that generative AI tools could never replace the physical presence and personality of a teacher in the classroom.
The teachers said that the challenges facing the adoption of AI in higher education and research in Morocco included lack of training and the lack of mastery of tools as well as ethical challenges.
To face these challenges, teachers put forward some recommendations, namely, programming targeted at the training of teachers, students and administrative staff and developing a public policy to support the use of AI in higher education.
Student community
The student survey showed that most participants were familiar with AI tools and believed they could improve learning. The majority of the respondents were PhD (44%) and bachelor degree (40%) students. The rest were spread out across various years of study, both at undergraduate and postgraduate level.
In terms of familiarity, 40% of students were moderately familiar with AI tools, while 32% reported limited familiarity. The most popular tool among students was ChatGPT (85%), followed by Midjourney (6.22%), Bard (4.53%), and OpenAI (2.50%).
Students reported using AI tools for tasks like information retrieval, translation, and writing improvement. However, some students also worried that AI could lead to cheating or laziness.
The students said that the primary benefit of AI in education is improving the quality of learning (75%), followed by the availability of a learning assistant 24/7, and increasing learning efficiency.
In the context of the perceived performance of AI in education, students confirmed that it would be useful to use an AI tool in their studies and-or research, they said they would complete their tasks faster and their productivity would increase if they used an AI tool.
Only 17.3% reportedly have seen improvements in their research and study activities due to AI tools, while 82% did not notice any improvement.
Students listed improved performance, time savings, speed (data collection) and efficiency, translation assistance, language learning, article summaries, finding solutions to exercises and knowledge development.
In relation to the main challenges or obstacles to the adoption of AI in higher education, students listed the lack of training, fear of plagiarism or fraud, the sharing of incorrect information, ethical issues, killing student innovation and creativity, the high cost of AI tools, and reducing human intelligence.
To face these challenges, students put forward some recommendations for improving the integration of AI into research and higher education, including programme training courses for students and professors, defining the ethical framework and rules for the use of AI tools, hosting conferences on AI and higher education for students and teachers, and encouraging students to use the tools and integrate AI into teaching programmes.
According to the authors, the results provided a foundation for future research to optimise AI integration in Moroccan higher education.
“These perspectives emphasise the need for a holistic approach that combines technical innovations with pedagogical considerations and ethical safeguards to harness the full potential of AI in the educational landscape,” the authors concluded.
AI in Morocco
The 2023 Artificial Intelligence Readiness Index (AIRI) ranked Morocco 88 out of 193 indexed countries.
Among the top 10 African countries included in the index, Morocco ranked sixth after Mauritius, Egypt, South Africa, Tunisia and Rwanda and followed by Senegal, Benin, Kenya and Nigeria.
The index, issued by global consulting firm Oxford Insights and the International Development Research Centre, measures governments’ willingness to use AI technologies by assessing their governance, infrastructure and data management, skills and education, and government and public services.
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