Loom is a browser-based screen recording tool built for speed and simplicity. Once installed, recording is as easy as clicking an icon in your browser toolbar, choosing your camera and mic, and hitting Start Recording. It's a good starting point for teachers who want to record instructional videos, feedback, or tutorials without a steep learning curve.

Why use this tool?

Loom's biggest advantage is how low the barrier to entry is — there's very little setup involved compared to more full-featured screen recording software. Once you're recording, you have some useful extras available, including a background blur option and the ability to add a canvas behind you.

It's flexible in what it requires from you, too. You don't have to show your face — the camera can be turned off entirely for a screen-only recording — and you don't have to include your voice either, though Loom will double-check that you meant to record without sound. That flexibility makes it approachable even for teachers who feel self-conscious about being on camera.

The uses are wide open: recording a walkthrough of content you've built in another tool (like a Google Sheets activity or a Canva worksheet), giving feedback on student work, supplementing a lesson with bonus instruction, or building out a full online course.

How to use it

1. Create a free Loom account. Sign up at Loom's website.
2. Install the Chrome extension. Search "Loom" in the Chrome Web Store and add the screen recorder and screen capture extension — this adds a small icon to your browser.
3. Click the Loom icon to open the recording menu. Choose what you want to record, along with your camera and microphone.
4. Click Start Recording. After a short countdown, Loom will begin recording your screen (and optionally your face and voice).
5. Click the icon again to stop. This ends the recording and takes you directly to your Loom page, where the finished video is ready to view or share.

Loom pairs especially well with other tools covered in this course — for example, narrating over a PDF you're marking up in Kami, or walking through a worksheet you built in Canva or Google Sheets.