Dr. Brian Butler and I just had a workshop paper accepted to CSCW 2013, for the CSCW and Education Workshop. The paper forwards an ecological perspective to studying the creation and implementation of open education.
I think as more online, open education platforms become the norm, these questions – of how do learning communities get created, implemented, and sustained over time? – will become more important to understand. Check out a draft of the paper here: [PDF]