In 1986, Lamb wrote, while quoting Ivan Illich 's After Deschooling What?, of the need for changes to the education system and the changes that were occurring largely (but not entirely) as a result of introducing computers into classrooms. Here are some interesting quotes from Lamb's paper:
Schooling is being replaced by a form of self-empowerment.
It is only now that the influence of its (computers in classrooms) ramifications on the entire educational process is beginning to be felt. Computers are now dismantling the long entrenched, rigid compartmentalization of subjects common to most educational systems, by allowing the child access to all sorts of information on almost any subject in an unregulated manner.
Now it is possible for a classroom to become open-ended enough to explore interdisciplinary units.
(Self - directed learning results in) ..... a continuum of learning being achieved. At one extreme , stands the teacher, a facilitator for knowledge and learning, whose role is to inspire, stimulate the imagination and give a kid a kick in the pants when it's required. At the other end stands the child, whose learning is self-directed to the point whereby she can take her computer off to her favourite retreat and learn about the things which fascinate her.
Till now, education has largely been comprised of those in the know ladling out that knowledge to groups of relatively passive individuals.
Note that Lamb was writing before the rise of 'multimedia' and the Internet as we know it today, although he did mention e-mail in his writing. Laptop computers were around but much too expensive for the majority of schools to purchase in numbers.
While there are many examples of the described open-ended method of teaching to be found in our schools, it is far from mainstream. To this point in time, ten years after Lamb's writing, computers in classrooms have not had the revolutionary influence which Lamb claimed. (Interestingly, Lamb mentioned primary teachers once, but not once secondary teachers. It appears easier for primary teachers than for secondary teachers to organise their teaching in an open-ended manner. The children are in the same class together for most subjects taught, unlike the situation in secondary schools. Hence an integrated approach can be tackled.)
The role of the teacher has not yet changed substantially in the sense described above. A large proportion of teachers while including computers into their teaching are basically still working back in the 'computer literacy' stage. The situation may be changing, as increasingly, the literature is reporting examples of changed teaching practice.