Importance of learning paths’ design in MOOCs: An analysis under the socio-cultural vision of education lens

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have profoundly influenced online education, offering innovative approaches to learning and teaching that focus on autonomous work and carefully structured curricula. This study examines the relationship between adherence to a proposed learning path in a coding MOOC and students’ performance in the course. A key component of MOOCs is learning processes which are organized activities intended to guide learners. However, the factors determining their success or failure have received little attention. An analytical method was used to collect, clean, analyze, and visualize data from the learning pathways in the course. A subsequent analysis was conducted to interpret the results grounded in the socio-cultural theory of education. The findings indicate that students who adhered to the proposed learning path performed significantly better than those who chose alternative navigation routes. This effectiveness is explained through the socio-cultural concepts of participation and reification which illustrate how the sequence of activities supports an environment conducive to meaningful knowledge construction. These results offer practical implications for the design and implementation of MOOCs, underscoring the importance of creating structured learning paths to enhance student engagement, performance, and overall learning outcomes. This study highlights the pedagogical value of intentional course design in digital education.