Abstract

The preservation of Balinese Lontar manuscripts requires innovative educational approaches that integrate digital technology, cultural awareness, and community engagement. However, limited research has developed and examined a higher-education learning model that explicitly integrates project-based learning with authentic community-based Lontar digitization, particularly through a university–community partnership, to simultaneously address student learning and traditional knowledge preservation. This study aimed to analyze the implementation and contribution of the Project-Based Lontar Digitization Learning Model in higher education. The study employed a qualitative descriptive research design to examine the implementation and outcomes of the learning model, which served as the pedagogical intervention. The research was conducted at STKIP Agama Hindu Amlapura, Karangasem, Bali, involving eight students from the Bali Language Education Study Program in collaboration with the local Lontar community. Data were collected through classroom and field observations, project documentation, performance assessment, and field activity reports, and were analyzed using thematic analysis and descriptive evaluation. The findings indicate that the learning model guided students through systematic stages of manuscript identification, conservation, digitization, metadata preparation, documentation, and project presentation. Evidence from the project documentation and field activity reports showed that students successfully produced digital archives of two Balinese Lontar manuscripts, Kakawin Arjuna Wiwaha and Kakawin Partha Karma, supported by structured metadata. As an educational outcome, students demonstrated active participation and developed digital, cultural, collaborative, and community-engagement competencies through direct involvement in the digitization process. As a community-development outcome, the partnership produced accessible digital documentation of two traditional manuscripts and strengthened the involvement of the Lontar community in preserving local knowledge. The principal novelty of the study lies in positioning the university–community partnership as an integral component of the learning model, rather than treating community engagement as a supplementary learning activity. The study therefore contributes a specific community-based instructional framework that operationalizes university–community collaboration through authentic Lontar digitization projects, linking student competency development with the sustainable digital preservation of Balinese traditional knowledge.