When you want your teaching to have a personal touch, nothing compares to the in-person learning experience. Fortunately for those teaching online, there are more and more innovative ways to enhance your “classroom” with a personal touch. I’m excited to tell you about one I encountered recently that makes it easy to create slide presentations that feel more personalized and engaging. 

Loom (not to be confused with Zoom!) is a presentation software that provides a way to show the instructor’s “talking face” on the screen while sharing the content. 

On the Loom.com homepage, I found an introductory video explaining the product features and delightedly discovered their Pro version is free for educators. I immediately signed up, downloaded it, and gave it a try. Here’s a short sample of what it can do.

Sample 37-second Loom Video

This type of more personal instruction can be rich with content and more easily digestible by students who typically prefer the video format. Students are using Canvas whether they are learning in-person or remotely, so providing content in this way allows students to access it when—and as many times—as they need to.

During this time of learning in new ways and new places, students and instructors alike are welcoming the personal touch in any way it can be provided, and Loom is easy to use. After signing up, you can view the tutorials to help you get started and work some magic! I am happy to share ideas and learn together new ways in which this could be a useful tool for your classroom.

Kristin Halsey, a member of the CTL team, likes to learn and share new, engaging software techniques for teaching and learning.