Beccy Dresden
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dresdeb.bsky.social
Beccy Dresden
@dresdeb.bsky.social
1.1K followers 550 following 870 posts
Lead Learning Designer (part time) at University of the Built Environment, and online learning consultant (UK higher ed). AI agnostic. Aspiring artist, lapsed linguist, and compulsive editor (Team Oxford Comma!). Corvid obsessed. Dogs not cats.
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dresdeb.bsky.social
Sainsbury's have Christmas chocolate on display 😱😱😱 #FarTooSoon
A selection of Cadbury Christmas-themed chocolate on display in my local Sainsbury's supermarket
September 7, 2025 at 3:04 PM
dresdeb.bsky.social
😁
Comparison between my solution to today's Wordle and the Wordle Bot's solution, showing that it took me 2 steps and the Bot 4.
July 27, 2025 at 9:25 AM
dresdeb.bsky.social
Hopefully it’s OK to share this!

#OLS2025
Slide showing the proposed characteristics of 30 for-credit University of London microcredentials at level 7 adapted to a new lifelong learning format: • Start any time (register, pay, start) • No application form • Advisory entry requirements • Study at your own pace • Al tutor: no human online tutors • A named student progress advisor throughout • Take the assessment when you are ready • Assessment: practical, authentic, transparent • Unlimited re-sits • A single academic delivery model and set of regs • Employability embedded in curriculum • Automated feedback and formative assessment points • Uses our in-house CAFÉ learning design model • Digital badges on completion (and credit) • Provisional marks within 2 weeks, rolling exam boards • Affordable, with ability to geo-price Stop at 1 module, or accumulate credit over time into a named academic award, an award in 'interdiscipinary studies', or use it to transfer into a full degree.
July 11, 2025 at 1:28 PM
dresdeb.bsky.social
I don't think Jock or Prep have much meaning in the UK, but Goths and Nerds are definitely more my people 😁

Take the test yourself at: www.idrlabs.com/jock-nerd-pr...
Results from the IDRlabs.com Jock-Nerd/Prep-Goth Test showing that I am 32.7% Goth, 46.4% Nerd, placing me in the True Nerd category.
July 8, 2025 at 11:45 AM
dresdeb.bsky.social
This came up as a Facebook memory from 10 years ago, but it seems timely to reshare it in the current heatwave. 5 seconds is all it takes to check for the safety of your pup's paws. If it's too hot for you, it's too hot for them.
Photo illustrating how to test whether the pavement is too hot for your dog's paws - the five-second rule. Place the back of your hand on the pavement. If you cannot hold it for five seconds, it's too hot to walk your dog.
June 29, 2025 at 6:09 PM
dresdeb.bsky.social
#ShowYourStripes Day. For me, this version of the chart (for the city where I live, Milton Keynes, UK) conveys a much more impactful message about #ClimateChange than the one that looks like a colourful bar code. #ItsGettingHotter
Bar chart showing temperature change in Milton Keynes (an English city approximately 60 miles north of London) from 1850 to 2024. From left to right, most of the chart comprises blue bars extending down from the horizontal axis, but the last quarter of the chart (on the right) shows a dramatic swing to mainly red bars extending upwards.
June 21, 2025 at 1:20 PM
dresdeb.bsky.social
Having a pretty good Wordle run, she says, immediately jinxing herself.
Average of my last 12 Wordle Bot scores from the past 2 weeks, showing that I have “beaten” it 3 times in recent Wordles, solving in fewer steps, and tied with it 8 times.
June 14, 2025 at 10:15 AM
dresdeb.bsky.social
...but inside was this 🥳🥳🥳
A close-up of part of the contents of the Lego set pictured in the previous post, a polystyrene compartment full of mini-figs, including the knights from the castle and a variety of spacemen.
June 7, 2025 at 3:11 PM
dresdeb.bsky.social
Ooh, but the story has a happy ending after all! Just before I left, mum remembered another box. It didn't look especially promising...
Lego set #910, "Advanced Basic Set", a tattered box with images of a house, a plane, a truck, etc., constructed from mainly red and blue bricks.
June 7, 2025 at 3:09 PM
dresdeb.bsky.social
Thought my mum had given away all my childhood Lego, so was excited to spot this (pic 1) in her office... Then I opened the box (pic 2) 😭
Lego set 375, a castle constructed from yellow bricks, with mini-figs knights armed with axes, swords, lances and shields, and several horses The contents of the Lego box showb in pic 1, which includes just some of the yellow bricks, none of the mini-figs, a random selection of Lego wheels, and completely different set of instructions (for space set 6930),
June 7, 2025 at 10:39 AM
dresdeb.bsky.social
Feeling the bearded iris love 😍
A cluster of apricot coloured bearded iris blooms, which we think are Edward of Windsor variety.
May 28, 2025 at 4:02 PM
dresdeb.bsky.social
One very cool thing from CODE's #RIDE25 conference yesterday (which continues without me today!) was the badge. Instead of the usual plastic sleeve, we had this...
A plantable conference badge made from surplus cotton from the textile industry, with tomato seeds inside.
March 14, 2025 at 1:59 PM
dresdeb.bsky.social
This slide from Paul Iske's opening keynote for #Digifest25 elicited a ripple of knowing laughter from the live audience.
A screenshot of Paul Iske's Digifest25 keynote, showing the formula NT+OO=EOO, which means new technology plus old organisation equals expensive old organisation
March 11, 2025 at 10:43 AM
dresdeb.bsky.social
Even in the north-facing, shady little flower bed we created at the front of our house, signs of spring are emerging in the form of the various primula denticulata.
A purple primula denticulata partially in flower, surrounded by ivy and heuchera leaves as well as other twigs and foliage. A white primula denticulata just starting to be in bud, surrounded by other twigs and foliage
February 25, 2025 at 1:06 PM
dresdeb.bsky.social
Just had a sparrowhawk in the garden, for the first time in years 😍 I only saw it resting briefly in our plum tree, so I don't know if it was pre or post hunt, but it was still a beautiful and welcome sight. Here's one from 2019, who actually stayed long enough for me to grab my camera.
Photo of a female sparrowhawk's head and shoulders, framed by branches.
February 10, 2025 at 1:00 PM
dresdeb.bsky.social
I knew I wouldn't have the time to commit to the January 2025 #30Faces30Days challenge from @sktchy.bsky.social, but looking back through previous versions has just reminded me how much fun it can be. Need to get back to drawing ASAP!
A collage of 25 portrait drawings (done by me), in a variety of media and styles, from various Sktchy #30Faces30Days challenges over the last 5 years.
January 24, 2025 at 5:27 PM
dresdeb.bsky.social
I have a nasty feeling I'm going to regret this... #Windows11Update
A Windows laptop screen showing the text: "Working on updates 4% Please keep your computer on. Your computer may restart a few times."
January 10, 2025 at 3:38 PM
dresdeb.bsky.social
That was back in the 80s, but I just found this from 2015!
A photo of a garden at a UK school that contains a Marbles Court (an area for playing marbles) with a tiled area in the centre in the shape of a Fibonacci spiral, surrounded by benches, raised beds and trees.
December 23, 2024 at 9:04 PM
dresdeb.bsky.social
If you see this, drop a pic from the last place your passport was stamped.

Gastown, Vancouver, Canada.
Mural by Ilya Viryachev symbolising the history of Vancouver, concentrating primarily on its surroundings between 1855-1955. It represents various significant processes to reveal how Vancouver’s current model of tolerance and multiculturalism was forged through histories of violence, racism and inequality. (text adapted from https://streetartcities.com/markers/3922)
December 13, 2024 at 11:32 AM
dresdeb.bsky.social
Still thinking about our wonderful camping trip to Suffolk last week. B/f took advantage of the low light pollution and did some astrophotography while we were there, so here's a composite showing the Milky Way above our tent! Obviously you couldn't see that with the naked eye, but it's legit data.
Photograph (a composite/stacked image) of an illuminated bell tent pitched in front of a small woodland, with the top half of the shot dominated by the night sky, showing the Milky Way.
September 20, 2024 at 12:23 PM
dresdeb.bsky.social
A bit chilly at night, but we had this bad boy outside the tent to keep us toasty while gazing up at the stars, and the lovely campsite owners are thoughtful and generous 😁

Plus Suffolk is a really beautiful part of the UK.

Hope the rest of your trip was fun!
A chimney full of burning logs, with a BBQ behind it, at a woodland campsite. A basket of hot chocolate sachets in front of a noticeboard that says "Chilly nights need hot chocolate! Please help yourself"
September 17, 2024 at 9:47 PM
dresdeb.bsky.social
Not a bad place to spend a day #RSPBMinsmere
A photograph from the Island Mere hide at RSPB Minsmere. Reed bed in the foreground, with 4 cormorants on a perch in open water behind that, and blue sky with white fluffy clouds in the background.
September 12, 2024 at 10:54 AM
dresdeb.bsky.social
This is where I'm spending the rest of the week, so I'm really hoping the night-time temperatures don't drop as low as they're forecast to! But hey, we have thermals #bracing
A bell tent pitched at the edge of a woodland campsite.
September 10, 2024 at 6:21 PM
dresdeb.bsky.social
This is what happens when your partner 'forgets' to pick the garden veg while you're away at a conference: I just harvested nearly 1kg of tomatoes and a pile of beans that are about twice the size I would like!
A bowl full of purple French beans that have been picked later than ideal so are rather large, with two small tomatoes on top A cardboard carton of home-grown tomatoes of various shapes and sizes, mostly red but a few yellow, with some so overripe they have split.
September 6, 2024 at 4:30 PM
dresdeb.bsky.social
The presentation from eCampusOntario's Robert Luke included an infographic called the Anatomy of an Empowered Educator, which definitely ties in with the discussion my table had at @johnbrindletel.bsky.social's collaborative learning design session yesterday. Love it when that happens! #ALTC
Infographic on the anatomy of an empowered educator, which highlights the 6 roles they play: teacher; curator; technologist; collaborator; experimenter; and scholar.
September 5, 2024 at 1:34 PM