Tasks and objectives in Gecko are a great way to set goals for your students and easily track and report on their completion.
Tasks in Gecko can be used for anything, and support three status' - Incomplete, In Progress and Complete.
Creating new tasks and objectives
Tasks and objectives can be created, updated, or deleted on the Settings > Tasks and objectives page. Click + New Task in the top-right corner to build a new task. You'll be asked to provide the following:
Name: The public-facing name of the task in Gecko. Students will see this value.
Internal name: (Optional) An internal name for the task in Gecko. Students will not see this value.
Allow contacts to modify: (Optional) If toggled 'on', students can self-certify they have completed this task via their student portal. Note: Gecko administrators will be able to modify objectives irrespective of your choice here!
Once configured, save your task by clicking New task in the bottom-right corner. Tasks and objectives can be re-ordered in the list by clicking, holding to the left of the task name, and dragging and dropping into place.
Adding conditions
Not all tasks apply to every student cohort. As such, Gecko allows you to define the conditions necessary for a task or objective to apply to your students.
To make a task conditional, on the Settings > Tasks and objectives page, click the corresponding breadcrumb button to the right of your task's name and select Edit condition.
You'll have complete control over which contact field values must be present for the task to be applicable.
Once you're happy with your selection, click Update conditions to save your changes.
Updating Tasks and objectives
Students
If a task is set to Allow contacts to modify, students can mark tasks as complete on their own using their student portal:
Students can access their portal after being sent an email or text message containing the {{contact.student_portal_url}} template tag.
Administrators
Your Gecko administrators can update tasks and objectives in one of two ways:
Manually - Click into the Contact > Overview page of the contact whose task or objective you'd like to update, before scrolling down to the Tasks & Objectives card.
Find the task you'd like to update, click it's current status, choose the new status and click the tick to save your edit.
Workflows - All workflows across Gecko now support the workflow action > Update task and objective. Pick the task you'd like to update and choose your desired status! Here are some simple examples of what this might look like in practice:
Example 1: Request for Information form:
Create a new objective called 'Requested Information'.
Add a workflow to your RFI form that sets the 'Requested Information' task to Complete when the student submits a response to the RFI form.
Example 2: Campus tour event:
Create a new objective called 'Visit campus.'
Add a workflow to your campus tour events to set the 'Visit campus' task to 'In Progress' when the student initially registers for the event.
Add another workflow to your campus tour events to set the 'Visit campus' task to 'Complete' when the student is marked as attended.
Add a final workflow to your campus tour events to set the 'Visit campus' task to 'Incomplete' if the student is marked as canceled or did not attend.
Example 3: Speak with AI bot:
Create a new objective called 'Spoke with AI bot'.
Add a workflow to mark the objective as 'Complete' once the students first conversation with the bot starts.
Filtering contacts task status
Gecko makes it easy to filter and search for students based on their status of any given task or objective. To get started, head to Contacts > Filter and select Task & Objective > {Your Task} > [Equals / Not Equals] > [Incomplete / In Progress / Complete]:
This search can be saved to used in broadcasts, exports or to add students to events!
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.