Digital Foundations is a growing trend in art schools across the country providing new opportunities to merge digital tools with traditional techniques in art education. Along with creating new educational opportunities this trend also presents new challenges in integrating hybrid art practice in institutions geared for traditional material and technique based curriculum. Creating a new discipline at a time when many art schools are headed in the direction of integrated or non-media-specific practice can be a challenge in itself not to mention finding space in already tight curriculum requirements for new foundations courses. Tension between the new and the traditional can be a major hurdle in terms of institutional practice and as a result educational institutions often play catchup with practice in the field at large. Foundational education in digital tools and media literacy is therefore an important topic of discussion. This panel seeks papers and presentations which explore innovations in this rising area of art education. The goal of the panel is to create discussion across a range of topics related to digital foundations in art schools. Papers exploring techniques, concepts, institutional practices, and issues of teaching and pedagogy, from various points of view (faculty, graduate students, etc.) are all welcome