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← Owens AI Institute

Building with AI (Vibe Coding)

Create real software and products with AI through natural language.

Elementary

Telling a Computer What to Do

Computers do what they are told. Learn to give clear, ordered, friendly instructions — and that you can ask a computer to make things.

  1. 1Computers Need Instructions
  2. 2One Step at a Time
  3. 3What Is a Command?
  4. 4Asking a Computer to Make Something
  5. 5Helpers That Understand Words
  6. 6The Order of Steps Matters
  7. 7When Instructions Are Confusing
  8. 8Giving Friendly, Clear Instructions
  9. 9Instruction Games
  10. 10Module Check

Saying Exactly What You Mean

Clear, specific descriptions are the secret to getting what you imagined. Practice turning vague ideas into clear ones.

  1. 1Clear Words, Clear Results
  2. 2Vague vs Specific
  3. 3Adding Helpful Details
  4. 4Who, What, Where
  5. 5Picture It First
  6. 6Too Little, Too Much
  7. 7Checking If You Were Clear
  8. 8Describing a Thing to a Friend
  9. 9Description Games
  10. 10Module Check

Making Things by Describing Them

Turn your words into pictures, stories, and game ideas with an AI helper — your idea, the AI's help.

  1. 1Words Can Make Things
  2. 2Describing a Picture
  3. 3Describing a Story
  4. 4Describing a Simple Game
  5. 5AI Helpers as Tools
  6. 6Your Idea, the AI's Help
  7. 7Making Something Step by Step
  8. 8When the Result Is Not What You Wanted
  9. 9Create-With-Words Workshop
  10. 10Module Check
  11. 11Lab: Prompt Playground

Try, Look, and Make It Better

Every creator improves their work. Learn the build-look-fix loop and that trying again is never failing.

  1. 1The First Try Is Just the Start
  2. 2Looking Carefully at What You Made
  3. 3What Do You Like? What Would You Change?
  4. 4Asking for a Change
  5. 5Small Changes, Big Difference
  6. 6Trying Again Is Not Failing
  7. 7Knowing When It Is Good Enough
  8. 8The Build-Look-Fix Loop
  9. 9Improvement Workshop
  10. 10Module Check

You Are the Creator

You direct, the AI helps. Take pride in what you make, be honest that AI helped, and share it kindly and safely.

  1. 1You Are the Boss of Your Idea
  2. 2AI Is a Helper, Not the Creator
  3. 3Being Proud of What You Made
  4. 4Telling People AI Helped
  5. 5Sharing Your Creation
  6. 6Kind and Safe Creating
  7. 7Creating With Friends
  8. 8Big Dreams, Small Steps
  9. 9Show-and-Tell Workshop
  10. 10Module Check

Capstone Project: Make Your First App with AI

Describe an app to an AI and build something that really works.

  1. 1Project: Make Your First App with AI

Middle

What Is Vibe Coding?

What vibe coding is — building real software by describing your intent in natural language, and what you still need to understand.

  1. 1Building With Words
  2. 2From Syntax to Intent
  3. 3What an AI Coding Helper Does
  4. 4The New Kind of Literacy
  5. 5What You Still Need to Know
  6. 6Vibe Coding vs Traditional Coding
  7. 7What Can You Actually Build?
  8. 8The Builder''s Mindset
  9. 9Spot the Vibe-Coded Thing
  10. 10Module Check

Writing Prompts That Build

The craft of prompting an AI to build — saying what not how, giving context and constraints, and iterating.

  1. 1A Prompt Is a Spec
  2. 2Saying What, Not How
  3. 3Giving Context and Constraints
  4. 4Showing Examples
  5. 5Breaking a Big Ask Into Steps
  6. 6Asking for One Change at a Time
  7. 7Reading What the AI Gives Back
  8. 8When the AI Misunderstands
  9. 9Prompt-to-Build Workshop
  10. 10Module Check

Building Your First Real Project

Take an idea to a working project — pick something finishable, build it feature by feature, and test as you go.

  1. 1Picking a Project You Can Finish
  2. 2Describing the Whole Idea
  3. 3The First Working Version
  4. 4Adding One Feature at a Time
  5. 5Testing as You Go
  6. 6Keeping Track of What You Built
  7. 7When to Start Over
  8. 8Making It Look and Feel Good
  9. 9Mini-Build Studio
  10. 10Module Check

Debugging and Iterating with AI

When it breaks: read errors, describe bugs clearly, get and check AI fixes, and iterate with discipline.

  1. 1Things Will Break — That's Normal
  2. 2Reading an Error Message
  3. 3Describing a Bug Clearly
  4. 4Asking the AI to Help Fix It
  5. 5Checking the AI's Fix
  6. 6One Change, Then Test
  7. 7When the AI Is Confidently Wrong
  8. 8Knowing the Code You Shipped
  9. 9Bug Hunt Workshop
  10. 10Module Check
  11. 11Lab: Bug Hunt

From Idea to Shipped

From idea to shipped — planning, building in slices, testing, sharing safely, and crediting AI honestly.

  1. 1What "Shipped" Means
  2. 2Planning Before Building
  3. 3Building in Small Slices
  4. 4Testing Like a User
  5. 5Getting Feedback
  6. 6Sharing Your Creation Safely
  7. 7Crediting AI's Help Honestly
  8. 8Being a Responsible Builder
  9. 9Ship-It Studio
  10. 10Module Check

Capstone Project: Ship a Real Mini-Project

Build, debug, and share a working project made with AI.

  1. 1Project: Ship a Real Mini-Project

High School

The Vibe Coding Paradigm

The vibe coding paradigm — intent over syntax, who can now build, and the human discipline that still matters.

  1. 1What Vibe Coding Really Is
  2. 2Intent Over Syntax
  3. 3The Democratization of Building
  4. 4What the AI Does and Doesn't Do
  5. 5The Skills That Still Matter
  6. 6Reading Code You Didn't Write
  7. 7The Human-in-the-Loop Discipline
  8. 8Vibe Coding's Real Limits
  9. 9Evaluating a Build Approach
  10. 10Module Check

Architecting a Project with AI

Architecting real software with AI — requirements, components, data, decomposition, and writing a build spec.

  1. 1From Idea to Requirements
  2. 2Scoping What to Build
  3. 3Thinking in Components
  4. 4Data and State
  5. 5Planning Before Prompting
  6. 6Decomposing a Build
  7. 7Choosing Tools and Constraints
  8. 8Writing a Build Spec
  9. 9Architecture Workshop
  10. 10Module Check
  11. 11Lab: Spec Builder

Building Real Applications

Building real applications — the build loop at scale, prompting across a codebase, version control, and keeping the AI on track.

  1. 1The Build Loop at Scale
  2. 2Prompting Across a Codebase
  3. 3Connecting the Pieces
  4. 4Working With Data and APIs
  5. 5Iterating Without Breaking Things
  6. 6Version Control as a Safety Net
  7. 7When to Refactor
  8. 8Keeping the AI on Track
  9. 9Application Build Studio
  10. 10Module Check

Quality, Testing & Debugging

Quality is your job — testing, systematic debugging, reviewing AI-written code, and security basics for builders.

  1. 1Why Quality Is Your Job
  2. 2Testing What You Built
  3. 3Reading and Understanding Errors
  4. 4Systematic Debugging
  5. 5Reviewing AI-Written Code
  6. 6Security Basics for Builders
  7. 7Performance and the User
  8. 8When the AI Is Confidently Wrong
  9. 9Code Review Workshop
  10. 10Module Check

Shipping, Ownership & Responsibility

Shipping, ownership, and responsibility — deploying, maintaining, licensing, and your accountability for what you build.

  1. 1What It Means to Ship
  2. 2Deploying to the World
  3. 3Maintaining What You Built
  4. 4Who Owns AI-Built Code?
  5. 5Licensing and Credit
  6. 6Building Responsibly and Safely
  7. 7Accessibility and Inclusion
  8. 8Your Accountability as a Builder
  9. 9Ship-and-Own Studio
  10. 10Module Check

Capstone Project: Architect & Build a Full App

Spec, build, test, and ship a real application with AI.

  1. 1Project: Architect & Build a Full App