1. Intellective tasks, which have demonstrably correct answers, have often been used for instilling mastery of concepts and procedures that are assessed with recall-type questions and computational problems (Laughlin 1980; McGrath 1984). SNO 01 example
   
   
2. Cognitive conflict tasks have no correct answers because of inherent conflicts of viewpoint (Laughlin 1980; McGrath 1984). Compared to intellective tasks, cognitive conflict tasks entice learners to make more elaborations and inferences to resolve conflicting aspects, leading to richer, longer-lasting situation models in memory (Zwaan et al. 1995). SNO 01 example

Why does the difference matter? Because intellective tasks are unlikely to permit learners to demonstrate performance on learning objectives couched in terms such as prepare, design, develop, implement, identify, analyze, and evaluate, i.e., objectives defined by performance on authentic tasks in a discipline.

How can one score authentic performance in a reasonable amount of time in an objective way that seems equitable to learners and offers them developmental feedback? Some possibilities:

1. Grading keys. Cognitive conflict task SNO01
2. Rubrics
   1. Huba and Freed (2000). Oral communication
   2. Writing.
      1. Acct 4010 Contemporary Accounting Information
         1. Editorial on Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002
         2. International GAAP
      2. Class participation
3. Templates for an auditing case: Student response template; scoring template
4. Detailed coding forms: Database queries
5. Electronic portfolio: Scoring rubric

1. Huba and Freed. 2000. Learner-centered assessment on college campuses. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
2. Laughlin, P. R. 1980. Social combination processes of cooperative, problem-solving groups as verbal intellective tasks. In Progress in Social Psychology, edited by M. Fishbein. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
3. McGrath, J. E. 1984. Groups: Interaction and Performance. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
4. Zwaan, R. A., M. C. Langston, and A. C. Graesser. 1995. The construction of situation models in narrative comprehension: An event-indexing model. Psychological Science 6 (5): 292-297.