The Gecko student portal is an easy-to-use, flexible, and hugely customizable solution for sharing cohort-specific information, clearing sharing tasks and objectives and allowing the student to see any/all communications from you in a safe, branded environment.
You can view any contact's student portal by clicking on their contact record and selecting to Actions > View student portal.
The portal can be shared with any contact on your Gecko account by email or texting a message containing the {{contact.student_portal_url}} template tag. This generates a "magic link" through which the student can authenticate and securely access a portal unique to them and their stage in their academic journey.
Getting started
To begin building your portal, head to Settings > Portal Settings. Here, you can view your portal layout, create new sections or items, and make any necessary edits or changes.
Your Portal builder is comprised of two types of objects:
Menu Items - the different types of content you can display in your portal (forms, events, landing pages, etc.)
Menu Sections - a helpful way of grouping together related menu items (based on content type, the cohort they're related to, etc.)
In the screenshot below, you can see the menu sections, 'Life on Campus', 'Events' and, 'External Links', with menu items nested under each section:
Sections
To add a new menu section, navigate to Settings > Portal Settings. From here, click + Add menu item > Add menu section.
In the Section label field, provide a public-facing name for your section and, optionally, select an icon to help the section stand out. To save, click Add section in the bottom-right corner.
Your section will now appear at the bottom of the Settings > Portal Settings > Menu builder page. The name and icon can be edited at any time by clicking the breadcrumb button to the right of the section name, and the section can be re-ordered by clicking and holding the icon to the left of the section name and dragging and dropping.
Items
Items can be added from the Portal Settings page by clicking + Add menu item > Add menu item.
Begin by naming your menu item in the menu label field. This name will be visible to students unless overwritten in the customisation field.
Next, select the type of content you'd like to add to your Portal in the Link type field before finally choosing which section you'd like to add the content to. Finally, click Add menu item to save.
Once created, items can be made conditional, making them visible only to students with specific values on their contact records.
Customisation
You'll have access to the Customisation tab when creating or editing your menu item. This area enables you to ensure the portal is commensurate with your brand identity with the following fields:
Header title - (Optional) Can be used to overwrite the menu item name. This field supports template tags.
Header text - (Optional) Can provide context about the page to the student. This field supports template tags.
Header Image - (Optional) Add a custom header image to add character to your portal page. We recommend a JPG or WEBP file with maximum dimensions of 1920px by 1080px.
Link type
The link type allows you to define the type of content you'd like to serve the student on this item:
Landing page
Landing page
Use landing pages to instantly create bespoke webpages personalized to the student. Pick your pre-existing landing page and choose whether you'd like your task and objectives sidebar to be visible.
Finally, click Add menu item in the bottom-right corner of the screen to save.
New to landing pages? Get started here.
Event
Event
Sharing upcoming events with students has never been easier. After selecting Event from the Link type field, select a booking form from your list of published forms that have at least one event field present.
Then, choose which event(s) you'd like to promote from your menu item. Select an event category to share any number of upcoming events, or an individual event that you'd like to highlight.
Finally, click Add menu item in the bottom-right corner of the screen to save.
Form
Form
Embedding a Gecko form on the Portal has three distinct advantages over sharing the same form via a weblink or embedding on your website:
Portal forms are automatically pre-filled with the information you know about the student. For example, suppose your form captures the student's Full Name and Email, and the student accesses the form via the Portal. In that case, they'll find their Full Name and Email already visible in the correct fields. This is a genuine time-saver that respects the student's time.
Form progression is saved. Unlike traditional forms that must be completed in one sitting, the Portal allows form progress to be saved as a draft. Students can then return to the form anytime without losing any progress! To enable this functionality, head to {your form name} > Settings > Basic Settings > Allow Draft Responses and toggle it to 'on'.
Choose control precisely how the page looks and feels.
The student submitting a response to a form can also be made visible on the Activity system page. To enable this functionality, head to {your form name} > Settings > Display on Portal activity feed and set the toggle to 'on'.
To configure your form menu item, set a menu label, select the form you'd like to use, before finally clicking Add menu item in the bottom-right corner of the screen.
New to forms? Learn more here.
External link
External link
As the name suggests, this item type allows you to directly provide a link to external pages that matter to you and the student. Add your URL, choose a menu section to add it to, and click Add menu item at the bottom-right corner of the screen.
Once clicked, external links will open the target URL in a new tab for the user.
System page
System page
Gecko supports a number of system pages, each of which fulfil a unique function:
Activity:
The activity system page is a super landing page for the portal, especially when customized to include student names and institution branding.
The activity pages provide visitors with a timeline of forms they've completed, emails and texts they've been sent (complete with the ability to read the message contents), calls they've received or missed, a history of any Chat conversations they've been part of, RSVP pages for events they've signed up to, and their current task and objective status.
Chat agents:
💡 Important note: Only agents with Visible on Portal toggled 'on' in their profile will be visible on the Chat agents page.
The Chat agents system page allows portal visitors to connect with your incredible team of chat agents. The Chat agent page dynamically shows the availability of each agent within a specified team. If the agent is online and the portal user starts a conversation with them, the live chat is automatically assigned to said agent. If the agent is offline or marked as unavailable, the portal user will be unable to message them, giving your team ultimate control over their workload.
Getting started
To get your Chat agent page up and running, you'll need to cover three unique steps:
Agent team ID - Tell Gecko which team to load into this agent page. To find the team's unique ID, log in to Gecko Chat. Head to Agents > Teams and click the team name you intend to use. Copy the ID underneath the team name (it'll look a little like this -
7eb5cec0-XXXX-47Dg-3z0f-6646ba082325) and, back on Engage, paste the ID into the Agent team ID field.Agent Profiles - Set your team up for success by customizing their agent profiles. Back on Chat, head to Agents, and click on the agent whose profile you want to customize. A profile picture can be uploaded by clicking the user's initials in the top-left corner of the Agent Profile card. Next, clicking Edit Agent Details will give you the chance to add:
Agent Bio - Click Edit Agent Details in the Agent Profile section and enter a biography for the agent that will appear on the Chat agent page. The biography can be up to 180 characters long.
Alias - The Alias field can be used instead if you do not want to display the agent's full name on the Chat Agent page.
Visible on Portal - Toggle this to 'on' if you want this agent to be visible on the portal. Without this enabled, the user will still be part of the team but will not show on the chat agent page in the portal.
Widget ID - Lastly, tell Gecko which live-chat widget should be used in the portal. In Chat, head to Settings > Channels and click the live-chat channel you'd like. Copy the
account_idvalue:
Back in Engage, head to Settings > Portal Settings, and, in the top-left corner, navigate to the Settings tab. Paste your copied account_id value into the Gecko Chat - Widget ID field and click Save!
Finally, visit the portal. Your Chat agent page should be up and running!
Booked events:
The Booked events page gives the portal visitor a list of all past and upcoming events they've booked on to.
Handily, this section also includes a link to the user's RSVP page for each unique event.
Draft responses:
The draft responses system page allows portal visitors to resume or delete any partially completed forms they started in a previous session.
Form progression can be enabled for any Gecko form. To enable it for your form, remember to navigate to {your form name} > Settings > Basic Settings > Allow Draft Responses and toggle it to 'on'. Finally, create a form menu item using your form.
Any partial completion of the form will now appear on the draft responses page!
Unibuddy:
Your Unibuddy chat functionality can be seamlessly embedded directly into your branded portal.
To get up and running, add your Unibuddy slug into the relevant field and click Add menu item.
Conditions
Not every menu item will be relevant to every portal. Happily, making items conditionally visible is easy.
To make a menu item conditional, make sure you're on the Settings > Portal settings > Menu builder page.
Then, click the corresponding breadcrumb button to the right of your menu-item's name and click Edit condition:
You'll have complete control over which contact field values must be present for the task to be applicable, including the use of complex ALL/ANY, AND/OR logic.
Once you're happy with your selection, click Update conditions to save your changes!
Settings
To access the portal settings page, head to Settings > Portal Settings and click the Settings tab in the top-left of the page.
In addition to allowing you to insert a Google Tag Manager (GTM) ID for tracking Portal engagement, the settings page gives you the opportunity to chose which live-chat widget to embed directly into your portal.
Gecko Chat - Widget ID: To find this value, log into Gecko Chat, head to Settings > Channels and click the live-chat channel you'd like. Copy the
account_idvalue:
Back in Engage, head to Settings > Portal Settings, and, in the top-left corner, navigate to the Settings tab. Paste your copied account_id value into the Gecko Chat - Widget ID field and click Save!
Gecko Engage - Widget ID: To find this value, head to Settings > Chat settings > Widgets (or click here). Find the widget you'd like to embed and copy the Embed code. It'll look something like this:
<script type="text/javascript">window.GeckoChatSettings={widgetId:"ACEUTp31zNUyIMiT-01JDXXXXXXXXX4W9J8Q8V6NQFD",accountName:"gecko-academy",};</script><script type="text/javascript" src="https://chat-widget.geckoengage.com"></script>From here, you'll want to extract just the widgetId value (which, for this example, is:
ACEUTp31zNUyIMiT-01JDXXXXXXXXX4W9J8Q8V6NQFD). Now paste this value into the Gecko Engage - Widget ID field and click Save!
Any questions? Start a live chat with a support team member, or feel free to explore the rest of our academy. Spotted an error or want to suggest a future article for the academy? Let us know here.