We all want to be good at our jobs and we know from experience how helpful—and necessary—feedback on our work is in order to know if we are indeed doing our job well.
Completing a goal you define each quarter and reflecting on your work gives you time and space to develop insights into your own work and note areas of strength and areas where you’d like to learn more. The tool you’ll use to prepare for your quarterly check-in—an ePortfolio—allows you and the administrators at the Writing Center to have concrete, tangible documentation of your work quarter-by-quarter while you work for us. As such, it helps administrators write specific letters of recommendation about you and provide detailed references for you after you successfully complete your employment at the Writing Center.
✅ Quarterly Check-ins
For each quarter you work for us, you will check in with an assigned administrator to discuss your ongoing professional development as a tutor and employee.
In advance of your check-in meeting with your assigned administrator, for each quarter you work for us—with the exception of your final quarter—you will prepare the following items in an ePortfolio based on a template we provide:
Goal Statement, Artifact, & Reflection
To support your individual and collective growth as tutors, you set and work toward a goal each quarter.
To help you take stock of your work as a Peer Writing Tutor and to make sure that you continue to identify your specific practices and note opportunities for growth, we ask you to reflect each quarter on your work. You complete 2 reflections on your tutoring practices each quarter: 1 reflection on synchronous tutoring modalities (F2F and ORT) and 1 reflection on asynchronous (written feedback).
To complete each of your 2 required reflections, you decide which option you’ll engage for each one: self-inquiry OR self-observation. You may complete a self-inquiry for both synchronous and asynchronous, complete a self-observation for both synchronous and asynchronous, or complete a self-inquiry for one modality and a self-observation for the other.
If you have two or more appointments in a given modality in a given quarter, you may choose to complete a Self-Inquiry or a Self-Observation for that modality in your ePortfolio for that quarter.
If you have only one appointment in a given modality in a given quarter, you complete a Self-Observation on that one appointment for that modality.
In rare cases where you have no appointments in a given modality in a given quarter, you do not need to complete a reflection for that modality that quarter; you should document that fact on that modality’s page of your quarterly ePortfolio before submitting.
How to Create Your Quarterly Check-in ePortfolio
Each quarter, you will create a new ePortfolio to submit your quarterly goal and tutoring modality reflections. You will use an ePortfolio template created by the Writing Center to streamline this process.
Select the blue plus button near the upper right corner of the screen to open the ePortfolio creation page.
Search for the template titled “writing-center-quarterly-check-in-template” and select it.
Enter a title with your first and last name and the quarter the ePortfolio relates to (e.g. John Bean’s Autumn Quarter 2022 Goal & Reflections or Nancy Sommers’s AQ22 Writing Center PD).
Select Create in the lower right corner of the screen.
A new ePortfolio will be created with three pages:
Goal
Asynchronous Reflections
Synchronous Reflections
🏁 Your Final Quarter
For your final quarter of employment at the Writing Center, you complete a quarterly SMART Goal as usual, and you also include a holistic reflection letter on your experience at the Writing Center instead of reflections on tutoring practices. Identified based on the information you submit to the Writing Center regarding your employment plans, tutors completing their final quarter at the Writing Center will be invited to use a specific template in Digication that includes the following required elements:
You will use the template we provide in Digication. During Autumn Quarter, you will learn about ePortfolios or refresh yourself about the genre and platform/software for making ePortfolios (currently Digication) by completing Digication Training.
Who will view my ePortfolio?
Because we want to encourage genuine reflection on your work and your goals, your ePortfolio is a private document that you share only with Writing Center administrators.
Can I make changes to the ePortfolio template?
Yes! You are welcome (but not required) to make any aesthetic changes that you would like—change colors or fonts, etc.
What happens if I do not complete my ePortfolio & check-in meeting in a given quarter?
Failure to complete either part of quarterly check-in requirements—your ePortfolio and check-in meeting—will result in progressive discipline. Repeated failures to complete check-ins may lead to termination of your employment.
What happens if I do not complete my ePortfolio & check-in meeting in my final quarter of employment at the Writing Center?
If you fail to complete either part of quarterly check-in requirements—your ePortfolio and check-in meeting—during your final quarter, you forfeit your eligibility for administrators to write you future letters of recommendation or serve as references on your behalf.
We strongly encourage you to complete your employment with us in good standing, so we are able to help you throughout your future professional and academic pursuits.
Can I get feedback on my work from an administrator outside of the quarterly check-in meetings?
Outside of the formal processes outlined here, any administrator is happy to meet with you to discuss any aspect(s) of your work on which you would like feedback. Contact any or all administrators via Slack to make an appointment to talk or DM or Zoom, etc.
📋 Quarterly Timeline
Autumn Quarter 2025
While all tutors submit eportfolios and meet with your assigned admin on the same schedule, NEW and RETURNING tutors have differing due dates for submitting your SMART Goal in Autumn Quarter. Please see all due dates in the corresponding sections below.
RETURNING TUTORS: Due Dates for Setting & Confirming Your AQ SMART Goal
Returning tutors set SMART goals as soon as possible in order to maximize time in the quarter to complete your goal.
WEEK
DUE DATE
TASK
Week 2
Wednesday, 9/10/2025- Tuesday, 9/16/2025
Draft a SMART Goal. Ensure the timeline you set for your goal is achievable by the due date for submitting your completed ePortfolio by the end of Week 8 (see below for details).
NEW TUTORS: Due Dates for Setting & Confirming Your AQ SMART Goal
New tutors set SMART goals after a few weeks of onboarding into your work at the Writing Center so that you can understand more about your role and what you might like to work on for your goal. This extended timeline also ensures you have an opportunity to connect with your mentor about setting a SMART goal before your submit your goal draft to your assigned admin.
WEEK
DUE DATE
TASK
Weeks 2-4
Note: New tutors are scheduled to meet with their mentors during Week 4; that check-in will include time to discuss SMART goals!
Wednesday, 9/17/2025 - Tuesday, 10/7/2025
Draft a SMART Goal. Ensure the timeline you set for your goal is achievable by the due date for submitting your completed ePortfolio by the end of Week 8 (see below for details).
Begin scheduling your quarterly check-in meeting with your assigned administrator. Admins will announce their availability and sign-up links on this date.
By beginning of Week 9
By 11:59 PM on Wednesday, 11/5/2025
Submit your completed ePortfolio to the specific/correct assignment in Digication (e.g., submit your winter quarter ePortfolio to the winter quarter assignment), including your completed SMART Goal and reflection on tutoring practices in the form of Self-Inquiry and/or Self-Observation .
Week 9, Week 10, or Finals Week
Wednesday, 11/5/2025 - Tuesday, 11/25/2025
Meet with your assigned administrator to discuss the contents of your ePortfolio, your reflections, and your next steps.
Winter Quarter 2026 (under revision)
WEEK
DUE DATE
TASK
Week 2
Monday, 1/13/2025 - Sunday, 1/19/2025
Draft a SMART Goal. Ensure the timeline you set for your goal is achievable by the due date for submitting your completed ePortfolio by the end of Week 8 (see below for details).
By start of Week 3
(Note: Writing Center closed Monday, 1/20/2025)
Begin scheduling your quarterly check-in meeting with your assigned administrator. Admins will announce their availability and sign-up links by this date.
By beginning of Week 9
By 11:59 PM on Monday, 3/3/2025
Submit your completed ePortfolio to the specific/correct assignment in Digication (e.g., submit your winter quarter ePortfolio to the winter quarter assignment), including your completed SMART Goal and Self-Inquiry and/or Self-Observation (or Final Reflection Letter when in your last quarter of work).
Week 9, Week 10, or Finals Week
Monday, 3/3/2025 - Friday,
3/21/ 2025
Meet with your assigned administrator to discuss the contents of your ePortfolio, your reflections, and your next steps.
Spring Quarter 2026 (under revision)
WEEK
DUE DATE
TASK
Week 2
Monday, 4/7/2025 - Sunday, 4/13/2025
Draft a SMART Goal. Ensure the timeline you set for your goal is achievable by the due date for submitting your completed ePortfolio by the end of Week 8 (see below for details).
By end of Week 2
By Sunday, 4/13/2025
Admins confirm tutors’ status to lock in accurate membership for quarterly Digication communities
Set up your ePortfolio using the template in your assigned community in Digication and work on your SMART Goal and Self-Inquiry and/or Self-Observation .
Note: The Writing Center is closed 5/24-5/26 for Memorial Day weekend. You are strongly encouraged to submit your eportfolio before the holiday weekend.
Middle of Week 8
Wednesday, 5/21/2025
Begin scheduling your quarterly check-in meeting with your assigned administrator. Admins will announce their availability and sign-up links on this date.
By beginning of Week 9
By 11:59 PM on Tuesday, 5/27/2025
Submit your completed ePortfolio to the specific/correct assignment in Digication (e.g., submit your winter quarter ePortfolio to the winter quarter assignment), including your completed SMART Goal and reflection on tutoring practices in the form of Self-Inquiry and/or Self-Observation .
Week 9, Week 10, or Finals Week
Tuesday, 5/27/2025 - Friday,
6/13/ 2025
Meet with your assigned administrator to discuss the contents of your ePortfolio, your reflections, and your next steps.
Administrator Assignments 2025-2026
SMART Goal
Self-Inquiry
Self-Observation 
Final Quarterly Check-In