‘Tek frak’, ‘tooterm’, ‘non crit art’, ‘non crit info’, ‘transition’, ‘wow!’ and ‘speed up’ were some of the editing codes used in editing self-study texts in Basic Systems Inc, New York, in the ’60s. I learned a lot from these codes. Usually written in red pencil or red ink, there was no escaping them. You had to discover for yourself the critical programming fault that each pointed to and, having done that, put it right. Doctors, fire fighters, refrigeration systems engineers, post office super-visors, salesmen, managers, cashiers, dancers, drop-outs and dentists are just some of the target populations who I know benefited from these codes and the corrections that each signalled. Because the codes were there, the learning experiences of our clients were a little more effective, valued, liked and efficient than they would have been without them. I still use these codes today.
Tekfrak warned you to look at the technical content of some information. For some reason it was suspect and possibly wrong; there was a ‘fracture’ in it.
Too term told you that you were likely to confuse the learner with a term that had not been previously defined. It was being used too early in the text. If you didn’t explain it, at or before the indicated point, it was going to give your learner trouble.
Non crit art told you that the artwork (some schema or diagram, picture or photo) was little more than decoration.
Your student hadn’t been asked to process the information in it. The artwork was non-critical in the learning process. The response you were inviting could probably be made without even referring to the artwork.
In Fig. 16 you will find two versions of an item which is intended to teach a rule about ‘looking before crossing the
street’. The rule is for a traffic situation in which cars, bicycles, buses and so on drive on the right-hand side of the street. The example is a simple one but it illustrates ‘critical and non-critical use of artwork’ in an item that has to teach.
Non crit info tells you that some information you are using in a course or lesson is ‘non-critical information’. In its existing form, place or content, it is adding nothing to the learning process. Information is ‘critical’ only if it is necessary for a
Figure 16 Critical and non-critical artwork 
correct response, or prevents a wrong response, or excludes some interfering response, or is important for some affective component in the learning process. The development of a value or a desired attitude are examples of components in the ‘affective’ area of learning.
Transition indicates an unsmooth or confusing move from one SR. event to another. It can be a timely warning that at this point in your course or lesson you are likely to be losing some learners. You need to tighten or clean up something at this spot. Continuity is important in a worked-out design.
Wow! tells you to beware. You may be using some example or anecdote that would hurt the sensibility of someone in your audience — your learner will express a mental (and sometimes verbal) *owl’. This coded item reminds you to be alert to possible sensitive reactions from your learner population. Not all learners share your own prejudices and sense of humour!
Speed up tells you that the pace of learning is too slow. You are being told to speed it up. The secret of doing this, in my experience, is to make better ‘music’ in some critical S-R events. You need to get the elements of instruction, explaining, telling and letting encounter to serve each other better. This will shorten both your and your learner’s tasks.