ABSTRACT
Since the 1970s, there has been considerable research on computer-based testing. Most of this research has been undertaken on paper-and-pencil tests that have been adapted for computer use from their original paper-and-pencil format (e.g., Henly, Klebe, McBride, & Cudeck, 1989), or for purposes of developing computer adaptive tests (Moreno, Wetzel, McBride, & Weiss, 1984; Wise, McHenry, Chia, Szenas, & McBride, 1989). Although these advances in computer testing are important, they fail to take advantage of the computer’s potential to assess new skills and abilities that have been difficult or extremely expensive to measure via traditional testing formats. In some respects, using a computer only to administer traditional types of test items is akin to owning a Ferrari but driving it only on trips to the corner grocery. The Ferrari will certainly get you to and from the grocery, but round trips to the grocery store hardly begin to take advantage of the Ferrari’s capabilities. Consequently, many selection experts have called for test developers to identify creative uses of “computer capabilities to tap new human functions not measurable by printed tests” (Fleishman, 1988, p. 685).
