Improving World-Ready Skills

Employers tell us that the three most important career-ready competencies are: communication, critical thinking, and teamwork.  

The Better Conversations Program contributes to these areas, equipping students today with the skills they will need to meet tomorrow’s challenges head on. Students will be more effective at building relationships, collaborating, and making decisions that matter.

What We Learned from the Residence Education Pilot

In its first two years, Better Conversations explored how dialogue-informed practices could become part of everyday residential life, rather than exist only through occasional programs or events. The work began with a small group of resident assistants across several residence halls and expanded to a full-hall model, giving us an opportunity to test both the impact of the approach and what it takes to implement it at a larger scale.

Impact

The pilot produced promising evidence that Better Conversations can strengthen the relational and communication skills that help students live and learn with others. Students reported growth in areas such as listening, perspective-taking, self-reflection, comfort engaging across differences, and sense of connection and belonging.

Some of the strongest effects were seen among resident assistants themselves. Through training and practice, RAs developed greater confidence in facilitating conversations, asking productive questions, navigating conflict, and helping residents work through differences.

Lessons for Practice

The pilot also taught us that these skills are most effective when they are embedded into the everyday practices of residence life. Better Conversations became more meaningful when it was incorporated into floor meetings, roommate conversations, one-on-one interactions, community-building activities, and other existing points of connection.

We also learned that meaningful dialogue does not always happen spontaneously. Students and student leaders benefit from structure, good questions, shared language, and ongoing coaching that make it easier to move beyond surface-level interaction.

Taken together, the two pilot years suggest that Better Conversations can help strengthen connection, reflection, and conflict navigation in residential communities. Building on what we learned, we are now scaling the program across additional residence halls so that more students can develop and practice these skills as part of their everyday residential experience.