So, first, despite my identity as a (field) researcher, I’ve shared the link to this piece before reading it. The reason was that I surmised it might be relevant… and wanted to do a kind of “distributed reading”.
Which is pretty much what you offer me. Thanks for that!
Wiley’s “provocation” has been on my mind for a while, now. I’ve discussed the piece with a colleague. My initial reaction (explicit and obvious in my tates) was that this is something many OE folks have been trying to tell OER folks like Wiley for a while. While I genuinely want to avoid the attitude implied by “told ya” statements, it just felt like one of those times you hear someone make the point you’ve been making. One the most striking cases in my experience was when Chomsky came to Montreal and eventually allowed some of the obvious points we’ve been making in language sciences outside of his sphere of influence to make its way into his awareness.
At any rate… (Digression is part of my “'branding”… 
)
A significant part of SoTL is dedicated to identifying factors which influence learning experiences. Time and time again, some form of the “Instructor Effect” reveals itself to be the one key factor that nobody controls. At least, that’s what this qual researcher perceives. I realize quants have another approach.
With OERs, the data we have would support the argument that “OER use is effective if it fits the instructor’s approach”. With enthusiastic profs, there’s a real gain from OER adoption… because the enthusiasm itself is a driver for pedagogical effectiveness. It’s a version of the Hawthorne Effect that OER-savvy courses studied by skilled pedagogues end up having a positive impact on learners. And, yes, the same could happen with those pieces of learning material that we’re trying to replace with OERs.
In other words: it’s about the learning experience, not about the “open content”.
Now, going back to Clinton-Lisell & Gwozdz…
Clinton-Lisell is among few scholars of OE effectiveness whose research is widely known. Simply put, her “citation impact” is pretty high and her “H-Factor” is likely to be high as well. Of course, it doesn’t garantee that her work is of high quality. It’s just a clue that she’s made a space for herself in this specific part of the field. (Others are better known for success criteria behind OER projects, for instance.)
When it comes to assignments (done by learners), it’s easy to think about OE beyond “open content” (done by learning pros). And that’s a whoooole big part of OE which often takes second chair. The type of Open Pedagogy @actualham has been doing for some years is associated closely with a learning process which happens in the creation of the material instead of the learning experience of merely “ingesting” the material. Though I don’t think Robin has called the work an “assignment”, it’s obvious that its renewable aspect is key to the experience.
Of course, there’s quite a bit of material on renewable assignments on this very site, though some digging is sometimes needed. One which really struck me at the time it happened was this talk:
An International Faculty Fellowship Focusing On Open Pedagogy and the UN SDGs 
- OE Global 2021 / Webinar Presentations - OE Global Connect. Though there’s material involved, what I’ve heard @UNizami, @Shinta, @mmills, and @DebbieB went beyond consulting documents to an experience of getting inspired by a collaborative practice.
And the SDG part is probably a key to unlock the UNESCO-driven assessment of our OE(R) practices. That obviously includes socioecological responsibilities, as Bisaillon & @mariannedube have reminded us.
La valeur ajoutée du libre ou la gestion écoresponsable des connaissances – Perspectives SSF (usherbrooke.ca)
Indeed, we might want to measure social impact of our actions. Here, we could draw inspiration from the Social Economy:
Evaluation and impact measurement for the social economy | Territoires innovants en Économie sociale et solidaire liaison et transferts (tiess.ca)
(As should be obvious, OE is, like SE, about The Commons.)
Soooo… What makes this study relevant? Dunno, really. It was mostly one of my weird questions. What I do know is that there’s work to be done on the impact of Open Ped.
In the aforementioned OEG21 webinar, @Melissa_A presented useful results on stakeholders’ perceptions of OEPs. In the end, by working together, we might derive deeper insight on a wider range of practices.
Faculty and student perceptions of open pedagogy: A case study from British Columbia, Canada - OE Global 2021 / Webinar Presentations - OE Global Connect