 Imagine a woman on her first day of university. She's always dreamed of working at a library or museum, so she decides to major in the arts. Maybe she had a computer at home, or maybe she didn't, but she's excited to think that after three or four years and thousands of dollars, this education will prepare her to be a successful worker. So she enjoys her courses, she studies hard, writes dozens of essays. She graduates almost as a different person, empowered by her knowledge and skills and ready to tackle whatever her new job at a museum throws at her. But then she discovers that her boss needs her to work with databases, to digitize a donated collection, to set up a technology-based education program for local school children. She thinks, I don't feel prepared for all this digital stuff. I wish I would have learned more about it at university. The fact is that higher education in the arts all over the world does not seem to be adequately preparing students for the digital world. In broad terms, digital literacy means having competence with a wide range of digital tools and the ability to critically evaluate online sources. In other words, it's not just about a student knowing how to Google something or download resources from our learning management system or a teacher just trying to put more technological gadgets into the classroom. The good news is that the 2015 Horizon Report for Higher Education lists improving digital literacy as a solvable challenge, but it's up to us as teachers to help solve it. The factory model of education, the idea that students are empty receptacles to be filled with knowledge, and the allegiance to print do not lend themselves to the kind of digital engagement that students need in the 21st century. Students do beautifully produce essay after essay after essay. Yes, the essay develops certain skills, but it neglects many other ones. An essay can be churned out without reading the course material and with limited knowledge of anything digital beyond a word processor and maybe an internet or library search engine. There are many other ways of constructing a persuasive argument or conveying an idea in today's world, such as making and sharing content on social media, whether in written or audio-visual form, and emailing or messaging friends, coworkers, politicians, et cetera. Yet we continue to assign essays and complain about marking them semester in and semester out. If students don't listen to feedback or seem interested in the topics, maybe it's because they know that it's a disposable assignment, a 30-minute chore for an audience of one. But if the closed loop of the traditional essay isn't working, don't we have some responsibility to change? Can't we let our students spread their wings and persuade us about an idea in a different way? It does not seem reasonable that a student should be able to receive an undergraduate arts degree without learning much more about digital technology than their high school peers. Furthermore, the lack of digital engagement disproportionately affects those without computers or internet access at home, as well as women. And in many countries, women form a significant proportion of workers in the glam sector, short for galleries, libraries, archives, and museums. Statistics show that women are pursuing higher education and increasing numbers around the world and their favoring subjects in the arts. But studies have also shown that in general women have lower levels of confidence with technology. So ensuring that arts courses provide ample opportunities to gain digital literacy skills and develop confidence with technology is good for women. These are the courses women are more likely to take. And many art students are interested in cultural heritage work. When higher education neglects to teach digital literacy, the glam sector then has to try to upscale workers with often limited resources and may only be able to train them on one or two specific systems. The increasing demands of digital technologies, collections, visitor experiences, analytics, and digitization projects make it even more vital. The workers are competent and confident in the digital space. One way to improve higher education so that students are better prepared for the digital demands of society and the glam sector is to incorporate digital humanities pedagogy alongside the traditional teaching of the arts and humanities. Arts teachers are in a unique position to be able to link technology and computing with culture and communities. Digital humanities can help them connect something technical, like entering information into a database, with the human, like making the Canterbury earthquake materials available to the public. If teachers add digital elements through a small-scale, low-cost approach, digital humanities can be a positive, less intimidating experience for students than, say, computer science. And it can then give them the confidence to learn more. So here are some examples of digital humanities activities that go beyond the essay. Blogging, which is often shorter and more reflective and accommodate images, videos, and links. Editing a course Wiki or Wikipedia and helping increase diversity on the site, which is largely male and North American and European. Creating or adding to a digital edition of a text. Working with open access digital archives to supplement print-based discussions. Using map and timeline visualization tools to look at data. Making multimedia assignments, such as videos, that embrace the remix culture rather than the read-only culture. This also teaches students about remixing responsibly amidst issues of copyright and creative commons licensing. Using textual analysis programs as simple as Wordle to show students how text can be transformed and analyzed differently. Working with or creating databases, for example, Omeka, so that students learn how to categorize and curate a collection of data. Digitizing images and other material in order to learn about file types like lossless formats and the limitations of keyword searching. And almost every engagement with technology also allows teachers a useful opportunity to discuss issues of privilege and bias and to critique digital culture and technology without ignoring them. These activities can improve students' digital literacy skills, raise their confidence with technology, and change the closed loop of disposable assignments so that students can participate in the production and distribution of knowledge on a larger scale. And this is exactly what GLAM is about, sharing objects and knowledge through public engagement. Ultimately, the digital world is here to stay. But just because our students are using apps or posting selfies does not mean that they know how to work with the mountains of data in their lives. Wherever they work, they will be caring for knowledge and memory for themselves and their families for decades to come. And they cannot just put digital things under a shoebox, under the bed, to preserve them. Students deserve to have an enriching education in the arts that offers them the best of the past but also prepares them for the digital world they inhabit. And we can deliver that to the digital humanities. Thank you.