COVID-19: a knowledge and learning perspective
Nicole Tovstiga, George Tovstiga
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic presents a unique knowledge dilemma. What do we know? What don’t we know? What do we not even know we don’t know? While we are in the midst of the global COVID-19 crisis, this article attempts to make sense of the pandemic from a knowledge perspective. An analysis based on the classic four-quadrant ‘conscious–competence’ framework examines the current state of the COVID-19 crisis. It draws on qualitative current media reporting limited to international, fact-checked coverage of the pandemic. The focus of the analysis is on the first quadrimester of 2020, during which the pandemic made its first appearance. The analysis highlights key junctures along the evolving knowledge trajectory. The article posits that while progress is evident on many fronts, we are as yet primarily in the ‘conscious – ignorance’ learning stage in which a knowledge base-line is in the process of being established.