Integrating TAM and PACK to Explain Students’ Acceptance of History Education Learning Media Across Urban and Rural Schools

In the modern classroom, history is no longer just a story told from a textbook. It is increasingly a collection of videos, interactive maps, and digital simulations that bring the past to life. Yet, simply handing a student a tablet or showing a film does not guarantee they will learn or even want to engage with the material. For technology to work, two things must align: the tool itself must feel easy and useful to the learner, and the teacher must know how to weave that tool into the lesson in a way that makes sense. Researchers have long studied these factors separately. One line of inquiry looks at how people decide to use new tools, focusing on whether they find them helpful and easy to handle. Another line of inquiry focuses on what teachers need to know to teach effectively, specifically how they combine their knowledge of the subject, their teaching methods, and the technology at their disposal. The question that has remained largely unanswered is how these two worlds interact when students are trying to learn about history, and whether the answer changes depending on whether they live in a bustling city or a quiet rural town.

A team of researchers from Universitas Tadulako in Central Sulawesi, Indonesia, set out to connect these dots. They wanted to understand what drives high school students to accept and use digital media for history class. To do this, they gathered a massive group of 1,179 students from 17 different schools, split between urban and rural areas. These students were asked to share their experiences with seven different types of history learning tools, ranging from simple printed materials and audio recordings to complex films, interactive software, and even augmented reality that overlays digital information onto real-world locations. The researchers collected over 8,000 individual responses, creating a detailed picture of how students in different environments interact with history lessons.

The study revealed a clear divide in the tools students actually use. In both city and country schools, the most common resource was audiovisual media, such as documentary films and videos. However, a distinct difference emerged when looking at the rest of the toolkit. Students in rural schools relied much more heavily on traditional print media, like textbooks and handouts, while their urban counterparts had greater access to and use of interactive multimedia. This gap reflects the reality of infrastructure; rural schools often lack the devices and internet connectivity needed for more advanced digital tools. Despite these differences in what tools are available, the underlying reasons why students accepted or rejected them followed a consistent pattern across both regions.

The researchers found that the most powerful factor influencing a student's willingness to use these tools was not the technology itself, but how the teacher presented it. The study measured a concept called Pedagogical–Technological–Content Knowledge, which essentially describes a teacher's ability to blend their knowledge of history, their teaching skills, and their command of technology into a single, coherent lesson. When teachers demonstrated this skill, students were far more likely to find the learning media easy to use and genuinely useful. It turns out that a sophisticated digital tool feels confusing and pointless if the teacher cannot explain how it fits into the story of history. Conversely, when a teacher successfully integrates these elements, the technology feels intuitive, and the student sees its value in understanding the past.

Once students found the media easy to use and saw its value, their attitude toward it became positive. This positive feeling was the direct gateway to their intention to keep using these tools in the future. The study showed that a student's attitude is the strongest predictor of whether they will choose to engage with digital history resources again. The research confirmed that the teacher's skill in blending subject matter, teaching method, and technology is the foundation upon which student acceptance is built. Without this foundation, even the most advanced digital resources can feel like a burden rather than a help.

The findings suggest that the path to better history education is not simply about buying more computers or installing faster internet, though those things matter. The critical step is ensuring that teachers are trained to use the tools they have in ways that make historical concepts clear and engaging. Whether in a well-equipped city school or a resource-limited rural one, the quality of the instruction determines how students perceive the technology. For students in rural areas, where advanced tools like virtual reality are scarce, the study indicates that teachers can still create effective learning experiences by mastering the integration of the simpler, available media like films and print. The research concludes that the most strategic investment for schools is not just in hardware, but in developing the human capacity to use that hardware to tell the story of history in a way that students can understand and embrace.