E26 - Dr. Scott McLeod Podcast


NewTech High Podcast

March 4, 2026

This is now our 26th message. That's a half-year or weekly messages. We have had a lot of really great sessions. If I could ask you to do anything as a NewTech school, it would be to watch the podcasts. Every one of them has something for somebody, but some mean a lot to some. Take some time and go through some if you haven't been a regular viewer. 

Today, we had Dr. Scott McLeod from University of Colorado, Denver campus, join us on the podcast. These podcasts are shareable, so don't be afraid to show them to small or larger groups of people. 



Scott begins talking about the concept of Deeper Learning. As part of this, he talks about four main concepts: cognitive complexity, increased student agency, "What do I need to know this?" -- a real-world authentic lens about the instruction, and finally, the shift from being an analog to a digital learner. He then shared about the many places where this deeper learning is taking place. 

Further, we got into Rodgers Diffusion of Innovation theory. How do we get our schools to be innovative around any new concept? How do we change strategies with different people at different times to ensure that our long-term embrace of a concept gets carried through to a successful diffusion of an innovation? 

He discussed concepts that echo DuFour's PLC work in that schools have to consider Push/Pull and Tight/Loose concepts around all of your work.  When and why do we force people to do things versus sometimes creating ideas that they pull towards? Similarly, what aspects of almost everything we do are we going to be tight on, rigid compliance to ensure things get done? In turn, what things can we be loose on when it comes to how teachers and students do things? These are powerful mindful concepts that we almost always have to have in our heads.

We end the podcast discussing AI and its relationship to high schools and colleges. Scott shares that AI is relatively young. In 1997, how would we know how the Internet would affect our schools and society? Where will AI manifest itself in the next few years? Who knows? However, we can be assured that there will be changes, so we need to weave these ideas into our concepts of schooling itself, lest we get hit in the face with the ramifications of those changes. 

Scott is a deep thinker that you may want to follow! 

Next Podcasts: 

NewTech High School, Osakis HS, Wednesday, March 11. 

On Deck: Mario Acosta, Marzano Resources (School Culture), March 18

NewTech High School, Brandon-Evansville, March 25

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