Instructional Materials and Design: Issues and Challenges

This study was carried out in Udi Education Zone of Enugu State to investigate the design of instructional materials for teaching in secondary schools. The study adopted ex-post facto research design. The population comprised 1528 teachers from the education zone. Questionnaire was the instrument for data collection. Two research questions and one hypothesis guided the study. Mean and standard deviations were used to analyze the two research questions while t-test statistic was employed in testing the stated hypothesis. The findings indicated that instructional materials designed and used by the schools were of no quality, out-dated, cost effective and did not encourage intellectual development of the students. The findings also showed that the following criteria should form the basis for the designing of instructional materials for effective teaching and learning include materials that are durable, less costly, easily maintained and manipulated by students, appeal to students’ interest and developed their intellectual capacities. The researcher recommended that government should make policies that should guide the design and production of instructional materials for use in schools.