Abstract

As the integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) continues to revamp numerous enterprises, including business education.  The makes the comprehension of the training and professional development needs of lecturers becoming important.  This study evaluates teachers’ training and professional needs for effective integration of Artificial Intelligence into the curriculum of business education.  The descriptive survey design was adopted for the study.  In order to attain the objectives of the study, two research questions and two null hypotheses were raised and formulated to guide the study respectively.  The study adopted the descriptive survey research design.  The population comprised of thirty (30) business education lecturers in two selected higher institutions where business education is taught in Delta State. The entire population was studied.  A structured questionnaire titled; Assessment of Teachers Training and Professional Development Needs for Effective Integration of Artificial Intelligence into Business Education Curriculum in Tertiary Institutions Questionnaire (ATTPDNEIAIBETIQ) was used for data collection.  The research instrument was validated by an expert in the Department of Business Education, Delta State University, Abraka. Delta State.  The Cronbach Alpha statistic was used to ascertain the reliability of the instrument which yielded a co-efficient of 0.89.  The descriptive statistics such as mean and standard deviation were used to analyse the research questions while t-test statistic was used to test the null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance.  The findings of the study revealed that numerous lecturers are not knowledgeable about AI-driven tools and applications, inadequate proficiency in the evaluation of AI-driven solutions by lecturers, paucity of sound and comprehensive implementation of the curriculum, insufficient supply of AI-driven technologies into the pedagogical activities and structuring the curriculum to improve pedagogical activities and evaluation to mention but a few. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended amongst others that business education lecturers and administrators of higher institutions in Delta State should provide periodic in-service to upgrade lecturers’ knowledge and proficiency in AI-driven skills and competencies.

Key Words: Teachers Training, Professional Development, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Business Education Curriculum

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