Sophisticated tasks in e‐assessment: what are they and what are their benefits?

This article asserts the importance of e‐assessment. It further suggests that assessment questions and tasks will change substantially as the art of e‐assessment progresses. The article then exemplifies sophisticated e‐assessment tasks, notes taxonomic schemes that have attempted to classify them and seeks to identify aspects of their definition. Next, some key claims for sophisticated e‐assessment tasks are summarised and evaluated. These claims are: (1) sophisticated e‐assessment tasks can be used to assess novel constructs, and (2) sophisticated e‐assessment tasks can be used to address summative and formative assessment purposes. In the final part of the article, issues arising from the article’s findings are discussed and necessary areas for further research are noted.