The Existence of Local Cultural Values in the Digital Education Era: A Case Study of the Integration of Buton Local Cultural Values at Baubau City Universities in Indonesia

Abstract

This study aims to examine how Buton's local cultural values can be effectively integrated in the digital education system in Baubau City universities, Indonesia. This case study uses a qualitative approach to understand the process of integrating Buton cultural values in digital learning through interviews, observations, and documentation studies. The results of the study show that the integration of Buton cultural values in digital learning in Baubau City universities still requires significant improvement. Although lecturers have a fairly good understanding of the potential of Buton culture, its implementation efforts are still limited. Lecturers face obstacles such as the lack of digital learning resources with local culture, limited understanding, and lack of institutional support. On the student side, most felt that Buton's cultural values had not been optimally integrated, even though they gave a positive response. Observations and documentation studies reveal that content, methods, and learning activities that explicitly integrate Buton culture are still limited. Institutional curricula, teaching materials, policies, and publications have also not comprehensively encouraged and facilitated local cultural integration efforts. This study concludes that universities in Baubau City need to make more comprehensive efforts to integrate Buton cultural values in digital learning, in order to maintain local cultural identity in the era of digital transformation.