ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the macro context affecting digital technologies prior to taking a more detailed look at computer-assisted language learning (CALL) and the implications of research in the field for project-based learning. From the 1980s onwards, these systems have taken many forms as digital technologies such as computers, mobile phones and the internet have converged into an ever-growing retinue of tools, artefacts and applications. The most popular solution has been social constructivism, which is a theory of learning that promotes social models of learner interaction in which communication, collaboration and community are core concepts. The growing presence of digital technologies in education since the early 1990s has been the result of national and international ICT policies aimed at developing learners' twenty-first-century skills. In the United States, a similar picture has emerged as a product of Federal Government grants to support a variety of ICT-related projects, including one-to-one laptop programmes in schools.
