At St. John Fisher University, we have found an exciting way to bridge the gap between educational ideas and custom software development: Vibecoding with custom Gemini Gems. Describing their idea in natural language allows college faculty and staff to create custom iPad apps directly for Swift Playgrounds, even if they have zero programming experience!
We have built Gemini Gems specifically tuned for Swift Playgrounds code structures for educational purposes. The development process is conversational and fast:
- Describe the Concept: Faculty describe what they desire their app to be.
- Refine the Logic: After the faculty member answers a few questions to narrow the functionality and layout, the bot generates fully functional Swift code.
- Run on iPad: Faculty copy and paste the code into a new Swift Playground app on their iPad. They can always go back to the chat if they want something fixed or improved.
I have uploaded a 5-minute video of how our Swift App Builder - Faculty Use bot works, which is great for task management. Feel free to try out our most popular model, Swift App Builder - Student use that professors have been making for simulations and gamification. We also have a version specific for Staff use, as well as an Advanced Student use if you wish to make a Swift Playground app with multiple pages.
Sharing the finished apps is relatively easy. A Swift Playgrounds app can be exported as a ZIP file and placed in our learning management system. As long as students have Swift Playgrounds installed on their iPads, they can download the app, run it, and begin exploring. I included my SAMR activity in a zip file that I have faculty play with so they can experience what a basic Swift Playground app can do!
A faculty member who has never written code can experience the satisfaction of seeing an idea come to life. We hope that creating a useful app will spark their curiosity and encourage them to learn more about Swift. Apple has helpful guides, lessons, and badges that can support them as they continue developing their Swift Playground skills.
Vibecoding Swift Playgrounds apps has truly revolutionized what we are able to do with iPads across our campus, turning everyday devices into powerful engines for custom learning tools.
Has anyone else experimented with AI-assisted app development with Swift Playgrounds? What kinds of simulations or tools would you want to build? And if you make anything with our Gemini Gem, I would love to hear it!
Chris Plantone
Attach up to 5 files which will be available for other members to download.