Vibe coding in nursing education: From user to creator

Area of Science:

• Digital Health
• Nursing Education
• Artificial Intelligence

Background:

• Generative artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming digital tool creation through natural language prompting and AI-assisted generation.
• The informal practice of "vibe coding" lowers barriers to digital creation, enabling users to describe desired outcomes conversationally.
• Nursing education has largely positioned nurses as adopters of educational technologies, not designers.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine the potential for AI-assisted creation to shift nurses from users to co-designers of digital learning tools.
• To explore the educational possibilities and ethical tensions of AI-assisted creation in nursing education.
• To advocate for cultivating critically informed digital co-design capacity within nursing education.

Main Methods:

• Conceptual commentary analyzing the impact of AI-assisted creation on nursing education.
• Exploration of the shift from conventional programming to natural language prompting and AI-assisted generation.
• Discussion of the implications for nursing roles in digital tool development.

Main Results:

• AI-assisted creation can empower nursing educators and students to translate pedagogical ideas into functional tools more rapidly.
• This shift offers potential for more contextually relevant and responsive educational innovation.
• Critical concerns include accuracy, bias, accessibility, privacy, pedagogical quality, and the illusion of expertise.

Conclusions:

• Nursing education should embrace AI-assisted creation not with uncritical enthusiasm or rejection, but with critical awareness.
• Developing critical AI literacy is essential, moving beyond basic digital literacy.
• Nursing education must prepare future nurses to question, evaluate, and shape digital systems, not just use them.