Understand a sentence from Harvard Magazine Article

Question

I've read an article from Harvard Magazine whose link is  https://harvardmagazine.com/2015/04/harvard-mooc-online-learning-lessons-from-edx , and I could not understand exactly its last sentence. Could you please help me?

"Participation, exploration, certification, teacher enrollment, and residential enhancement are less independent dials to turn up and down but interacting ingredients in a recipe for online and residential advances in learning."

Thanks,

RichEconomistGMAT · Answer

Hi Takoz89,

Could you clarify what about the sentence you're having difficulty understanding?

Thanks,
Rich

wakk0 · Answer

How about this breakdown:

Participation, exploration, certification, teacher enrollment, and residential enhancement are not variables that can be adjusted independently to try to make MOOCs more successful. You can't just increase student participation and make the courses more successful. In this case what if the teacher's are really bad? Obviously that would not guarantee a successful environment. Instead, each of the factors (participation, exploration, certification, teacher enrollment, and residential enhancement) are interconnected. As an example, if you require every student to get a certificate that could impact the number of students that take the course. Maybe the people taking the course for fun are no longer interested and decide not to take the course. Also, maybe fewer teachers sign up to teach because they have to do more work to ensure each student gets a certificate. So, adjusting the certification aspect also impacts student and teacher numbers. By tinkering with one factor you also influence other factors as well.

RichEconomistGMAT · Answer

You've asked some really great questions about the last sentence. However, if we're just looking to understand what the author is trying to convey here, that's a completely different matter.

Based on my reading, the author claims these elements are part of what make a class effective, but are not the  only  elements of a successful class. In terms of a practical application in the RC section of the GMAT, it sounds like you're jumping the gun a bit. The key to answering corresponding questions on the GMAT is to identify the stance an author is taking on a matter and the theories he or she is using to back them up. What you've done by asking the questions you've asked is a great exercise for the AWA, but in terms of understanding what the author of this article is trying to convey, you might be getting a bit ahead of yourself.

Best,
Rich

damyanti · Answer

I feel it is:

Participation, exploration, certification, teacher enrollment, and residential enhancement are:
i) A <less independent dials to turn up and down> but
ii) B <interacting ingredients in a recipe for online and residential advances in learning>

So, the sentence is saying

Participation, exploration, certification, teacher enrollment, and residential enhancement are not A but B.

In this sentence, what is being debated is the goal of "online and residential advances in learning". Towards this goal, Participation, exploration, certification, teacher enrollment, and residential enhancement all "interact" with each other, and cannot be looked at or controlled in isolation.

From a GMAT perspective, I would have liked a "are" after "but". That would have made the sentence much clearer.

Any thoughts from experts?

RichEconomistGMAT · Answer

Hi damyanti,

I'd have to agree with many of your points on this sentence. It's necessary to get past that counterargument to really understand the core of the sentence. I don't think the additional "are" would make as big of a difference, but would also not hurt.

Best,
Rich

DmitryFarberMPrep · Answer

The author made a bit of an error. They started with "A, B, C, D, and E are less independent. . . " This should have been followed with a clear comparison: "Less independent and more interacting" or "Less independent than one would suppose." This lack of follow-through on the first part of the sentence makes the sentence a bit more confusing.

Beyond that, I think damyanti has the right idea. The five elements listed at the beginning must be thought about and worked on in conjunction, as they all interact with each other. They aren't simple variables that can be increased or decreased in isolation.

Understand a sentence from Harvard Magazine Article

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