Analysis of Competitive Advantage and Disadvantage

This assignment involves analyzing the competitive advantage and disadvantage of several countries using various methods such as Porter's Diamond and Revealed Comparative Advantage. The analysis includes case studies on Australian older Australians, Chinese National Champions, Indian service outsourcing, Romanian international competitiveness, and Turkish services competitiveness. It also explores national culture, country-level competitiveness, and economic development in different contexts.

RUNNING AHEAD: FLIPPED CLASSROOM IN A UNIVERSITY 1
Flipped Classroom in a university
Student Name
School Name

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Table of Contents
Introduction...........................................................................................................................................3
Literature review...................................................................................................................................4
Critiques of flipped classroom...........................................................................................................5
Flipped learning in Singapore............................................................................................................5
Bloom’s taxonomy of Cognitive domain...........................................................................................6
Advantages of flipped learning..............................................................................................................8
Disadvantages of flipped classroom....................................................................................................10
Features of flipped classroom..............................................................................................................11
Access one after the other................................................................................................................11
Test after each lesson.......................................................................................................................11
Rectification of wrong answer.........................................................................................................12
Email trigger to instructor................................................................................................................12
Game based test V/S normal test.....................................................................................................12
Online and offline content viewing..................................................................................................12
Mobile friendly application.............................................................................................................13
Animated characters........................................................................................................................13
Short courses...................................................................................................................................13
Flip cards.........................................................................................................................................13
Synopsis..........................................................................................................................................13
Completion certificate.....................................................................................................................14
Responsibility of the consultant.......................................................................................................14
Conclusion...........................................................................................................................................15
References...........................................................................................................................................15

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Introduction
In the traditional classroom setup, students have to go to the college every day and be
a part of the lecture delivered by the teacher on daily basis. The teacher would give
assignments based on the lecture conducted. These assignments would help students to enrich

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their knowledge and understanding about the subject. Flipped learning is different than that of
traditional classroom learning. In flipped classroom, lectures are captured in the form of
video and students can view it as and when required. Many teachers would ask students to
view videos before or after their lecture to enrich their subject-matter understanding.
Literature review
A lot of research has been done to understand the advantages, disadvantages and
implications of flipped classroom style learning and they are discussed below.
It is merely impossible for colleges to stay away from technology when it booming
day-on-day. Universities which offer higher education is using flipped classroom method to
the fullest to ensure that the students get maximum benefits from the course, they have
enrolled for. In the past, distance learning students use to study by using study materials
provided but that is not the case anymore. In flipped classroom coming into picture, these
students can view video and clarify their doubts based on the video (Edward 2013).
Flipped learning is considered to be the best when it is blended well with classroom
training. It can be blended with physical activities in the classroom and watching of video
before of the class. The students will get an understanding of the practicality associated with
the theoretical watch. This is blended form of learning when online video viewing is
combined with face-to-face physical activities (Elena 2013).
Students would be more than happy if flipped classroom is implemented in their
university. Students may find the traditional classroom session to be bored as the teacher may
speak continuously while students’ thoughts may wander without paying attention to much of
what the professor is speaking. This can be avoided if the student watches a video to
understand the theoretical part of the lecture. The student would prefer to watch the video at a

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time when he is willing to study. Even weak students can watch the video multiple times and
cope up with. This provision is not available in classroom learning as weak students may find
it embarrassing to question the instructor frequently (Ferrais 2014).
Finally, students can spend more time in the classroom learning practical issues which
would help the students to develop their employability skills. If the teacher wants to educate
the student about the Singapore job market then the history of job market and the other
government policies can be shared with the students through video. In the classroom, they
can spare more time to understand the various vacancies, expectations of the employer and
the areas wherein the student needs to be groomed (Gong 2014).
Critiques of flipped classroom
The success of flipped classroom is extremely dependent on the motivation of the
student. One need to accept to the fact that only few students would be highly motivated to
study, but there would be many who are not very keen about studying so in such situations,
flipped classroom will be considered useless.
This disconnects the students from being social. Students would spend most of their
time in front of the computer and hence, they may develop a liking towards isolation and this
is not a positive sign towards to the betterment of the student. This may also make the student
unemployable (Grant 1991).
Flipped learning in Singapore
Universities like National University of Singapore and Nanyang Technological
University are extensively using flipped learning to ensure that they are reaching out to
maximum of people. They have launched their courses in Coursera and they are hugely
popular over the online platform. To start with, NTU has launches flipped classroom
approach for renaissance engineering and medicine programs. Singapore institute of

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technology would be allowing students to take their devices in their exam hall. The exam
would evaluate the students on the grounds of speedy information collection from the
internet. The learning trend is changing and universities in Singapore are upgraded to win the
race of providing quality education.
Bloom’s taxonomy of Cognitive domain
Flipped classrooms are based on Bloom’s taxonomy of cognitive domain. It states that
there are six levels of learning and they are as follows: -
1. Remembering – During this stage, students understand and recall the information that
they have received. They remember the basic concepts that have been taught to them.
2. Understanding – During this stage, students summarize whatever has been learned by
them. They also continuously try to recollect and interpret the information that they
have received.
3. Applying – After remembering and understanding, they try to apply this knowledge in
the actual situations of life. Even if they don’t get an opportunity to implement it in
daily life, they will try to put in their understanding in the way things are working
(Hunseok 2013).
4. Analyzing – At this stage, students analyze the information that they have received.
They debate with their friends about their understanding and a summary is produced.
They obtain new knowledge by way of sharing their understanding and getting
opinion from friends. This helps them to understand the practicality of the concept
and this leads to critical thinking (Herciu 2013).
5. Creating – This is the final stage of learning, where the students are able to create
something new, by way of implementing the concepts that they have learned.

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With the help of implementation of flipped classroom learning method, students
remember and understand while they are outside their classroom. Applying, analyzing and
creating takes place in the classroom, under the guidance of the teacher. The teachers would
share recorded lectures and also some relevant content with the students and the students
would go through the lecture (Hemphill 2013). While they are in the classroom, they would
use their learning to classroom activities that would help them to achieve the higher levels of
the taxonomy. In the traditional learning module, students in the classroom use to listen to
lectures, thus, there was no guidance for students in achieving the higher levels of learning
(Mallya 2014).
A comparison to understand the impact of different teaching methods and its impact
on the students will be helpful for clarity. A comparison between traditional classroom and
flipped classroom is as follows: -
Level of learning Traditional classroom
learning tools
Flipped classroom learning
tools
Remembering Face-to-face lectures in the
classroom
 Pre-recorded lecture
for the students.
 Watching videos
before the classroom
 Going through
materials before the
classroom
Understanding Students will share their
doubts with their teacher and
 Try to understand on

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it would be clarified by the
teacher
their own
 Take help from
friends and
colleagues
Analyzing Homework based on the
learning
 Classroom activities
 Debate or group
discussion
Applying and creating Homework and in few cases,
this stage is ignored.
 Projects
 Presentations
 Evaluation by peers
 Evaluation by
instructors (Mallya
2014)
Advantages of flipped learning
There are various studies which proves that flipped classroom is effective than that of
the traditional brick and mortar classroom. There are various advantages of implementation
of flipped classroom and they are discussed below.
The cost of teaching by way of implementation of flipped learning in university can
be reduced. If a student fails in a semester then they need to repeat the complete semester by
way of coming back to the classroom but this can sorted with the help of flipped learning.

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With the help of implementation of flipped learning, students can take their lectures at their
home and they can just reappear for the exams alone (McGorry 2015).
Flipped classrooms will be best for students who are weaker than that of the other
students in the classroom. In traditional classroom, weak students would find it embarrassing
and uncomfortable to request the instructor to repeat few things which the student haven’t
understood, but this will not be the case in flipped classroom. In flipped classroom, the
student can repeat the whole lecture as many times he wants and hence, the student can watch
the video till he is confident about the content.
Overcoming boredom is one of the challenges which can be fought with the help of
flipped classroom. Students can go through the lecture while they are most comfortable and
excited to study. Many a times, student would be daydreaming while the teacher is delivering
the lecture, but this can be easily avoided if the university opts for flipped learning. Apart
from that, it is merely difficult for the students to be mentally absent while activities are
undergoing in the classroom and hence, the complete learning is made effective.
Imparting more knowledge is one of the best benefits that colleges can reap with the
implementation of flipped classroom. In the traditional classroom, teachers use to teach the
basic concepts to the students and hence, the teachers were left with no time to teach
application. With the help of flipped classroom, teachers are allowing the students to learn
basics independently, while they are utilizing their teach application which would be helpful
for the students in the long run (Overbaugh 2013).
Teachers had to put in more efforts to ensure that the students understand the basic
concepts but with the implementation of flipped classroom, teachers will spend more time
with each student and they would help them understand the practicality of concepts. This

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would be more value adding to the students and it would also help the students to be ready to
face the external world.
Parents will also be happy with the implementation of flipped classroom as they
would be more updated about the goings in college. At any point of time, parents can login
and check on the quality of lectures that the students are receiving. If the parents are not
satisfied with the content shared with the student, the parents can share their feedback and the
content can be upgraded or modified to serve better to the students.
Traditional classroom pushes teachers to give assignments wherein the students will
have to apply their understanding about the lecture. This is very complicated and hence, the
students may feel that they are over boarded to homework, but this is the other way round
with the flipped classroom learning system. The simple part of understanding the concepts
would be done by the students at home and for the analyzing and applying, teacher would be
there with them to provide better clarity (King 2015).
Disadvantages of flipped classroom
Flipped classroom learning cannot be considered to completely perfect. There are few
flaws in this learning method and it needs to be overcome by the instructor. Few of the flaws
which are to be considered by the instructor, students and parents are discussed below.
Flipped classroom is extremely dependent on student’s motivation and hence, there
are possibilities that students may not be very keen on completing the course as expected by
the instructor. If a student is excited to study and understand the concepts then he may love
flipped classroom, while an average or below average student may not be very keen about
going through the video and hence, there are possibilities that they may not learn as expected
by the teacher (Javalgi 2013).

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Technology issues are very common and hence, the university will have to be ready to
face it while they are planning to implement it. There are possibilities that few of the students
may not have connectivity and hence, it would be difficult for those students to complete the
course that has been assigned to them (Bell 2013).
It would be difficult for the instructor to understand the level of understanding of the
student. Few of the students may just lie to the instructor that they have completed the course
while they wouldn’t have even started. This would mean that the students may not take the
course seriously and the results may not be as effective as expected.
Features of flipped classroom – Functionalities of the product
The flipped classroom offered by the consultants has ensured that the benefits are
huge and at the same time, they have ensured that the disadvantages are overcome to the
great extent. Few of the features that would be effective for the students are discussed below.
Access one after the other
This feature will ensure that the students complete all the lessons rather than that of
skipping few lessons in between. This feature would mean that the student has take up
complete chapter one so that he can go to chapter two. This will always ensure that the
student studies on timely basis rather than that of studying only before the exam (Hiziroglu
2013).
Test after each lesson
After completion of each lesson, the student will have answer 10 questions based on
the things that they have learned. This will ensure that the students pay attention to the course
while the video is running (Huggins 2015).

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Rectification of wrong answer
If the student gives wrong answer to any particular question then the video share the
right answer and at the same time, that particular part of the video would play again so that
the student need not go back searching to clarify his doubts about the question (Contractor
2015).
Email trigger to instructor
If a student secures very low score or high score in the test then an automated email
would get triggered to the teacher. This will allow the teacher to put in extra efforts to help
the weak students. At the same time, if a student is getting full marks in the test then the
student can appreciated so that they are motivated to withhold their interest in the course.
Game based test V/S normal test
After completing the lesson, the student can decide on the kind of test they would like
to take. If they want to take up a simple test, multiple choice questions would appear on the
screen and students can select the right answer. If the students are willing to take game based
test then they can take car racing. Every time they would bump into an obstacle, a question
would appear on their screen and the students need to answer that before they proceed. In
case, the player doesn’t bump against any obstacle then he will have to take up the questions
to refill the car with fuel (Adrian 2013).
Online and offline content viewing
Few of the students in the university don’t have proper internet access at home and
hence, for such students, offline content viewing is put in place. The students will have to
download the lesson while they are in the university campus so that they complete the course
even when there is no internet connection. This will allow students to utilize their travel time
as well (Ketelhohn 2015).

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Mobile friendly application
Flipped classroom is compatible with mobile as well and hence, students need not be
dependent on mobile heavily. This application is compatible with android as well as iOS so
students can use this irrespective of the mobile that they own. Picking up the laptop to view
the video can be painful and hence, this easy option is put in place for effective learning
(Bergmann, 2012).
Animated characters
A boring plain video with just PowerPoint running in the background would be really
boring to sit and watch and hence, to catch hold of the attention of the viewer, there would be
animated characters. These animated characters would speak and hold the attention of the
viewer. These animated characters would look professional and in many situations, they
would depict the work environment in organizations.
Short courses
The complete lesson will not be posted as one single video. It would become very
difficult for the student to sit and study at one stretch. The videos would 30 minutes long and
each lesson would be broken into pieces, as required.
Flip cards
If a student leaves the lesson halfway then the student would get reminders so that
they can go back to the lesson and complete. These reminders would mention pointers that
they have already completed so the student can also remind themselves of what was
completed and what is yet to be completed (Oh 2013).
Synopsis
After every chapter, synopsis would be presented and this will help the student to
remember all the things that they have learnt. The synopsis will be very short for about a

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minute so that the student doesn’t feel that the same thing is dragged repeatedly in the course.
This synopsis will also help the student to perform better in the self-assessment which
appears at the end of each course.
Completion certificate
Once the student completes the lesson and clears the test, he would get a course
completion certificate. This course completion certificate will not add any value to the
student, but this can be used by the teacher. If the teacher requests to complete three lessons
before the class then they can produce this certificate as a proof (Bauer 2017).
Responsibility of the consultant
The team of consultants would ensure that the flipped classroom is successful in the
college and for the same they will help in the complete implementation process. The
responsibilities of the consultant are as follows: -
 First and foremost, the consultant will ensure that the instructors are aware of all the
features of flipped classroom product so that students can be guided appropriately. A
training program would be organized for the teachers wherein all the features would
be explained to them. This will help the teachers to feel confident.
 The teachers would have been comfortable with the old method of classroom training
so they would be explained about the advantages of taking flipped classroom. The
consultants will also allow the instructors to understand the change in role that take
place for the teachers (Baepler 2014).
 The consultants will also give training to students on usage of flipped classroom and
also the benefits that they can reap. This will motivate the students to learn and
perform better.

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 The consultants would share all the existing course material with the instructors and if
any modification is required in the content then that would be modified accordingly.
 The consultant will also help the teachers to understand the various activities that they
conduct in the classroom so that the teachers don’t find it difficult to cope up with the
changing requirements of the students (Abeysekera, L, 2014)
Conclusion
Implementation of flipped classroom may be difficult, especially for the instructors
but the university should take this step so that they can stay ahead in the world of offering
education. Most of the universities today have started offering partial flipped classrooms so
that the students aren’t bored with the traditional method. The university will have to upgrade
their infrastructure with better Wi-Fi connectivity so that the students can open their mobile
or laptop and start with the course. Apart from that, many students may also download
courses will they are in the university campus.
The consultant team would always be available for the university to address and
support if there are any technical glitches at any point of time. Implementation of flipped
classroom will ensure that the students perform better and at the same time, they will show
more interest towards studies. Technology is changing in this fast moving world and it is the
responsibility of the every individual to ensure that it is used to the fullest for the betterment
of the society, as a whole.
References
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Baepler, P, 2014, It's not about seat time: Blending, flipping, and efficiency in active learning
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