This paper examines the themes for two World Conferences on Computers in Education to characterize and theorize the shift in pedagogical rationale from ‘liberating the learner’ (the 1995 theme) to ‘involving everyone’ (the 2017 theme). The WCCE 1995 contributors’ responses to the theme of liberation are analyzed in terms of how the affordances of digital technology for learning are orchestrated by teachers, students and the technology itself. The pedagogical effects of developments in the use of technology in education since 1995 are considered using four key examples, and WCCE 2017 contributors’ responses to the theme of involvement are discussed in the context of these effects. The paper concludes that the shift from ‘liberation’ to ‘involvement’ represents a progression in expectations concerning how technology can aid learning, but that involvement requires that the learner should develop an intention to learn and an ability to orchestrate resources which teachers should help them to acquire.