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Dr. Christie Martin races around the world spreading educational insight, ending at the finish line of the Boston Marathon

Going the Extra Mile for Education

By IGI Global Scientific Publishing on May 19, 2015
Contributed by Dr. Christie Martin (Assistant Professor of Education, University of South Carolina)

IGI Global Author Goes The Extra Mile For Education Hi, I’m Dr. Christie Martin. Last month I attended the American Educational Research Association (AERA) and the Chinese American Educational Research and Development Association (CAERDA) conferences in Chicago, Illinois. I was also given the opportunity to participate as a panelist at the annual CAERDA conference. I, along with Dr. Xitao Fan (Dean of Faculty of Education, University of Macau, China), Dr. Bo Zhang (Associate Professor of Educational Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee), and Dr. Kurt Stemhagen (Associate Professor in Foundations Education, VCU) presented on the topic of Educational Research Methods and Approaches.

Above all else, the most important message I tried to convey to the attendees of the presentation was that meaningful educational research is really about pursuing what you care about and establishing trust. Research, by its nature, is long term and having passion for your research topic is going to motivate you to see it through to the end. Second, establishing trust with your study participants is the heart of obtaining accurate, reliable research data. In educational research, your study participants are typically teachers and students. In order to get meaningful and accurate data, the students and teachers must trust the researchers enough to act naturally. In sum, passion and trust are primary ingredients of meaningful educational research.

In addition to my own presentation, I had the opportunity to learn about the great research my colleagues in the educational field are doing. One of my favorite presentations at AERA was entitled “Visualizing Revision: Re-Mediating Self-Evaluation via Between-Drafts Concept Mapping” by professors Justin Olmanson (University of Nebraska – Lincoln), Katrina Kennett (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign), and Sarah J. McCarthey (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign). Their presentation showed a digital version of concept mapping used at different stages of writing. This line of research is fascinating as it combines my passion for content area literacy and technology.

I enjoy meeting people from all over the world and always find AERA and CAERDA to be an exciting and worthwhile experience. I especially enjoyed stopping by the IGI Global booth and thumbing through the displays of books and journals. It brings me such joy to have contributed to some of these great works! My visit to the IGI Global booth was my last stop as my trip had to be cut short so I could fly out Friday afternoon; a big marathon waited for me in Boston!!

IGI Global Author Goes The Extra Mile For Education This was my first time running in the Boston marathon and my travels for the week included: leaving Columbia, South Carolina, and heading to Chicago, Illinois, then New York City to reach my mom, drive together to Boston, Massachusetts, back to New York City, and finally return home to Columbia! I was overwhelmed with everything I was cramming into one week’s time and my months of training being severely hampered by an Achilles injury weighed heavily on my mind. These emotions were quickly replaced with joy and excitement as I made my way through the expo picking up my number and wearing the coveted Boston Marathon jacket. Last year I ran two marathons that were both qualifying times for this race and now I was finally there! I met my best friend there and was ready for our 3rd marathon together. We were excited; however, we both spent many minutes checking our phones hoping for the weather forecast to change. The forecast remained steady; cold, wind, and rain were in our future. The hours before the race I sat anxiously shivering in the athletes’ village and as we walked to the start line I was not ready to shed my throw away clothing just yet. In fact, I did not shed my extra coat until around mile 4! The start was actually good weather for racing, but soon the rain began to fall. The sheer magnitude of the race, the lines of people cheering “USA, USA, USA”, and the support from my mom and Aunt Lynn were all I needed to stay focused and enjoy a world class marathon. I did not finish with anywhere near my PR, but a solid finish that secured yet another place next year if I so choose. At least next year AERA and CAERDA will be weeks before the marathon in Washington DC! All in all, the conferences in Chicago were quite inspiring. I urge both teachers and education professors to strongly consider attending these conferences in the future.


Dr. Christie Martin is an assistant professor in the Elementary Education program at the University of South Carolina. Her research agenda focuses on writing across the content areas and using technology to enhance learning. She has published in journals such as the School Science and Mathematics Journal, Early Childhood Education Journal, and Journal for Research in Childhood Education.

Her IGI Global chapters include:
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