Toward a Taxonomy: Insights from the 2025 CSCL paradigm building workshop

Abstract Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) has grown into a multidisciplinary field, yet persistent conceptual fragmentation limits cumulative knowledge building and newcomer entry. We frame paradigm formation in CSCL as a wicked problem that requires collective action. We report outcomes from the half-day CSCL Paradigm-Building Workshop at the ISLS conference 2025, preceded by anonymous online pre-workshop exchanges. Twenty participants and panel members from diverse disciplines and cultural backgrounds identified priority tensions around defining CSCL, integrating theories, and the future of the field. Across small-group and panel discussions, participants concluded that building a shared CSCL paradigm was neither feasible nor desirable. Participants highlighted weak communication across paradigms and the absence of shared descriptors for phenomena and analytic approaches. To counter the negative effects of co-existing paradigms, participants proposed a community-maintained CSCL taxonomy that tags and guides contributions along key dimensions of collaborative learning, instructional support, context, and epistemic stance. Such an approach will serve both the need to bridge paradigms and continuous community building. We close with a roadmap for collaboratively refining a proposed first draft of such a taxonomy and sustaining paradigm-building through ongoing workshops and community-based research.