This thesis is a hermeneutic approach to understanding the concept of digital empowerment. The
motivation for the project is in response to the potentially eminent implementation of “technological
capabilities” as a new subject in Danish schools. The study is heavily inspired by the government
sponsored experiment “Tekforsøget”, in which they seek to analyze and test multiple strategies
within technologic capabilities, in order to discover which competencies is required within the
subject.
This thesis sets its epistemological framework within the field of discourse theory as described by
Laclau and Mouffe (Laclau & Mouffe, 1985), in which it will discuss articulations within the field
of technologic capabilities. It furthermore draws on a theoretical foundation of studies within
“Tekforsøget” and relevant actors within digital learning set in a Danish context, which is backed
up by relevant theory on organizational and implementation strategies.
In collaboration with University College Nordjylland (UCN), this study seeks to analyze and
discuss different comprehensions of the term “digital empowerment” in a span between theory and
practice. By applying analytical strategies found within discourse theory, it will contribute to a
general understanding of the competencies required within digital empowerment. The goal of this
contribution is to pan out points which should be focused upon, if the implementation of
technological capabilities as a subject, should become a reality.
From an analysis of the theoretical and practical field around Tekfosøget, this thesis ultimately
discovers that the current understanding of competencies of digital empowerment, is heavily
focused on risk assessments around datamining algorithms. This in turn will potentially serve as a
paradox, as it might compromise the goal of empowerment, which based upon an understanding
inspired by Immanuel Kant, and is described as the ability act upon your own knowledge and
capabilities (Fibiger, Hjorth, Lorentzen, & Pasgaard, 2019). Therefore, this thesis advocates for a
more balanced approach to digital empowerment.