Hi @codinghorror! Vanessa from Peer 2 Peer University here.
We’ve been using Discourse for our internal community http://thepeople.p2pu.org/ and for our project-based moocs like Learning Creative Learning http://discuss-learn.media.mit.edu/categories
Right now we’re trying to come up with some best practices on installs for educational communities. So far, we’ve found it useful to make each learning module a category. I’ve combed through the UX forums but haven’t seen specific recommendations as far as pedagogy goes. If anyone has insights or recommendations, we’d be much obliged!