From Vibe to Value

Preparing Full-Stack Thinkers

Hi all, 

I have mixed feelings on the word “vibe” as used in terms like vibe coding. I understand it’s a shorthand stolen from Gen Z to conveniently describe the use of AI tools to increase capacity and productivity. The Gen X in me, however, who as a teen wore trench coats while listening to The Cure, still cringes every time I use it. But the cringe cannot stop me, or the rest of us, from recognizing the importance of this moment.

The original use of vibe in this context indicated someone with no technical knowledge using AI tools to emulate that knowledge. Increasingly, I think of it as a point on a spectrum. On one hand, a person may not know anything about the underlying code, and only use the AI tools to fake the development. On the other, there’s the classic software engineer who writes all of their beautiful elegant code by hand. Barely even Googles it. Inevitably, I believe the way we teach technology is going to fall between those two points, and it is likely to involve the heavy use of AI assistance.

This is good news for us in many ways. We’ve always lagged behind focused software engineering programs, because we also have to teach the “people” part of what we do. These new “vibe” techniques allow us to create what I’ve been calling “full-stack students”: UMSI students who can play multiple roles, who can create as well as describe, who can move further faster because they know how to use tools to solve problems with information. 

We need to change, and it is going to be a change that requires effort from us. The tools are changing rapidly. AI can draft, generate, analyze, and simulate. Entire industries are recalibrating in real time. The half-life of technical knowledge is shrinking. What endures is the ability to apply and adapt. Consequentially for us, what we have to change the most is our mindset. Our students need to see themselves as capable of using these tools to compete with students from any other program. We need to see our students as capable of that, too, and change how we teach them to expect more from each class we have with them.

We are in a strong place to take advantage of this opportunity. How we teach—embedded in social contexts, aware of ethics, cognizant of dangers, focused on the human—means that our students can provide value even in the context where AI tools are replacing many low-level skills. Their high-level skills will more than compensate.

UMSI’s strength lies in preparing students for a world where they need to adapt to these technological changes, lead with integrity, and help others in their organizations and communities understand the opportunities and risks of the environment we are entering. We care about the whole student. Not just their technical skill set, but their judgment. Their resilience. Their professional identity. Their ability to navigate ambiguity with integrity. We integrate technical depth with human context. We pair analytics with ethics. We connect design with responsibility.

When you hear “vibe,” pause and think about the term a little bit. Nobody in the school will ever advocate that we teach people to use these tools without understanding or context. But the sense of vibe that means connecting new tools, old skills and emerging knowledge into one cohesive educational outcome—even old goth Cliff could get into that new future.

And because I cannot resist a super nerdy reference, in the DC Universe there is, in fact, a Detroit-based hero named Vibe. He possessed the power to generate vibrations and open interdimensional portals, connecting multiple universes. Connecting perspectives using marvelous new powers feels very UMSI.

Best,

Cliff 

Associate Dean for Academic Affairs

University of Michigan School of Information