SJU graduate Tim Edwards ’08 creates virtual tours of CSB, SJU campuses

When Tim Edwards left Norwich, England and crossed the big pond to attend Saint John’s University in the fall of 2003, he didn’t have a clear visualization of the campus.

“When I was a perspective international student – quite a while ago, now – there wasn’t as much information for me to better visualize where I was going to be going,” Edwards said.

That was especially true for his family, who couldn’t look at, explore or feel the connection to SJU or the College of Saint Benedict, he said.

Edwards sought to change that when he created a 360-degree virtual tour of the CSB and SJU campuses. The tour makes dozens of stops across both campuses including classes, labs, athletic events and rehearsals, with viewers able to select what they see. There are also opportunities to hear from CSB and SJU students, professors and staff.

Having graduated in 2008 from SJU with a degree in communication, Edwards – who is the business development and digital project manager at Viewing Online - sought to show off CSB and SJU to the world.

“I thought, I’ll get in touch with Saint John’s to see if we could build out something spectacular, so I reached out and got put in touch with Tom,” Edwards said, referring to Tom Voller-Berdan, executive director of admission/marketing at CSB and SJU.

“We shared a few ideas, because I knew that there was already an attempt at a tour and it was live already,” Edwards said. “I thought we could top that, and bring more to the table – especially using 360 (degree) video content from game days, classes and individual stories from the students, faculty and staff.

“So, we gave it a shot,” Edwards said.

It was a logical step for Viewing Online. The Norwich-based company creates “augmented reality content for trials and experiences, and virtual destination apps,” he said.

“We were having this this brainstorming session about what is the next line of industries or product ranges we would like to get into,” Edwards said. “Virtual tours are a perfect product for university campuses and everything else that goes on within them.”

With the help of Voller-Berdan and Sarah Simpson, associate director of admission at CSB and SJU who helped organize who, what and when to shoot , the team spent a 10-day period filming in late September and early October, 2018, sandwiched around Homecoming week.

“Some people would call it structured mayhem, but really, it’s actually a pleasure to get out and be invited back to campuses around the world to film what they have to offer,” Edwards said.

“It was a lot of work, but it was a lot of fun, too,” Voller-Berdan said. “It made for some pretty dramatic days.”

“We were gung-ho 12 hours a day filming everything that we possibly capture across both campuses,” Edwards said. “I was only there for a short period of time, and I wanted to make sure I could get as much content as possible.”

Edwards said a typical day began at 7 a.m., filming the CSB rowing team practicing on Lake Sagatagan, then heading to CSB to film the breakfast crowd at Gorecki Dining and Conference Center and “everything else in-between.”

“The schedule for this filming production was one of the most intense and exciting and tiring,” Edwards said, laughing. “At some point, especially toward the end, I think we were all a little bit lagging, but we pulled each other through it massively.

“It was an incredible feat for everybody,” he said.

Voller-Berdan noted that one of the advantages of Edwards’ work is the ability to update the virtual tour.

It’s also not a short-term relationship. CSB and SJU plan to purchase a high-end 360 camera, and are working with Edwards to move the tour over to a much more robust platform.

Even though Edwards knew both campuses, he said he got a much better understanding of the schools.

“There were so many courses and classes that I didn’t even take a glimpse at when you looked at a course sheet, because you didn’t know what to expect,” Edwards said. “It says Theater 101, Intro to Theater, but what does that entail?

“But when you actually go and film it and experience it and feel it, those emotions come out across the tour. There’s so much here to offer,” Edwards said. “There were so many special moments through the filming process that I’ll never forget.