Artificial Intelligence Tools for Enhancing Academic and Psychological Student Support Services in Public Universities in Rivers State, Nigeria
This study investigated artificial intelligence tools for enhancing academic and psychological student support services in public universities in Rivers State. Three objectives, three research questions and three hypotheses guided the study. The study adopted the descriptive survey design. The population of the study was 92,836 consisting of 92,570 students and 266 administrative staff across three universities. A sample of 541 respondents (382 students and 159 administrative staff) was selected through multi-stage sampling technique. The instrument was validated by three experts and yielded a composite Cronbach’s Alpha reliability coefficient of 0.81. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions while z-test was employed to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. Findings revealed that all AI tools (AI-powered mental health systems, Predictive analytics systems and AI-enabled writing assistant tools) enhance student support services to a high extent. It also revealed no statistically significant difference between students and staff perceptions on two of the AI tools examined; however, a significant difference was observed in their perceptions of AI-enabled writing assistant tools. Based on the findings, it was recommended among others that University management and government should increase investment in robust digital infrastructure to support the deployment and effective utilization of AI-powered mental health systems to enhance students’ emotional well-being, improve access to timely and confidential psychological support services and promote sustainable, accessible and responsive student support.
Keywords: Artificial Intelligence, Psychological Student Support Services, Mental Health Systems, Predictive Analytics, Writing assistant Tools
