EXPLORING PRE-SERVICE TEACHERS' AWARENESS, READINESS AND UTILIZATION OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN EDUCATION: A CASE STUDY OF A FEDERAL INSTITUTION IN EKITI STATE

Abstract

Artificial Intelligence has become one of the sought-after tools and platforms due to its significant role in education, offering educators and students innovative approaches of teaching and learning, assessment, acquiring skills, communicating and interacting with learning materials. Despite its transformative potential, university students in Nigeria have yet to fully harness the capabilities of AI in their educational pursuits. This underutilization may be attributed to inadequate awareness, limited readiness and insufficient utilization capacity. Hence this study explored the pre-service teachers’ awareness, readiness and utilization of Artificial intelligence in education in a Federal institution in Ekiti State. The study employed descriptive survey research design. A total of 559 pre-service teachers were selected through a multistage sampling technique. Three research questions were raised to guide the study. Data were collected using a validated research instrument titled Pre-Service Teachers’ Awareness, Readiness, and Utilization of Artificial Intelligence in Education, which was reviewed by experts and had a reliability coefficient of 0.78 using Cronbach’s alpha. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation) with IBM SPSS Statistics version 24. The findings of the study revealed that pre-service teachers are aware, but not ready and able to utilize artificial intelligences in education. Based on the findings of the research, it was recommended that teacher education programs should include more training in artificial intelligences for teaching and learning to help pre-service teachers develop the skills and confidence needed to use this technology effectively in the classroom. Collaborative efforts should be made by government, educators, and industry to promote the use of artificial intelligences in education. This can help to increase awareness and support for the integration of this technology into teaching and learning