Lecturers’ Perceptions on the Integration of Artificial Intelligence Technology into Agricultural Education in Universities in Southeast Nigeria

Abstract

This study explored lecturers’ level of awareness, perceived potentials, and anticipated barriers on the integration of AI technologies into Agricultural Education. A sample of 56 lecturers from universities in Southeast Nigeria participated in this descriptive exploratory study. Data was collected using a structured questionnaire, and the findings were analyzed using descriptive statistics. The results revealed that a substantial portion of Agricultural Education lecturers had limited awareness of AI technologies, with 44.29% demonstrating no awareness and 24.06% having slight awareness. However, 17.5% showed moderate awareness, 8.86% had high awareness, and 5.29% were very aware. While there was a general moderate awareness of integration of AI technologies, there were variations in awareness levels for specific technologies. Among others, results of this study also indicated that lecturers recognized AI's capacity to enhance program efficiency, improve educational content, offer personalized learning experiences, tailor content to individual needs, and enhance assessment methods. However, lecturers perceived several barriers to integrating AI technologies into Agricultural Education. These barriers included a lack of technical infrastructure, initial acquisition costs, financial constraints, resistance from peers, lecturers' lack of training, concerns about data privacy and security, the displacement of traditional teaching methods, students' limited awareness, regulatory and compliance challenges, difficulty finding AI-based educational resources, student resistance to AI methods, ethical dilemmas, lack of institutional support and policies, and the time and effort required for planning and implementation. Based on the findings of this study, researchers recommend the need for government and university administrators to provide a comprehensive training and capacity building of lecturers, and necessary infrastructures that would enable the integration of emerging AI technologies into Agricultural Education.