2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

To improve student understanding of course content and improve student retention in the Engineering Mechanics: Statics course, we have revisited the current format of the discussion sessions we offer at Oklahoma State University. A past study explored, employed, and evaluated hands-on labs for these sessions. However, these activities are no longer used in the discussion sessions and the practicality of reimplementing these demonstrations has proved difficult. Therefore, it was decided to explore introducing virtual labs into the discussion sessions.

While there is extensive existing literature regarding the effectiveness of virtual labs in engineering education, there is a significant gap in how these labs are developed. To help close this gap and due to limited coding knowledge by the faculty who instructed the course, we propose the use of generative artificial intelligence chatbots (GenAI chatbots) to develop virtual labs. In our use case, we explored vibe coding, which uses AI chatbots to provide code based on written language prompts, and found it as a viable option for creating virtual labs. The successes, issues, and resolutions related to using AI chatbots and vibe coding for the purpose of creating these virtual labs is discussed. Additionally, the potential security vulnerabilities regarding vibe coding are explored and a proposed mitigation strategy to reduce risk is provided.