• PhD
• AdCertPT
• MSocSc
• CQSW
• BA (Hons)

Before joining the University Tarsem was a Senior Social Work Practitioner and Accredited Practice Teacher working in a Children and Families team.  Tarsem is an Apple accredited Final Cut Pro film editor and experienced multimedia developer. He is also a published mobile app developer and has been a West Bromwich Albion season ticket holder for a number of years.

Tarsem teaches on the post and undergraduate Social Work programmes as well as being an academic tutor.  He currently teaches on the Child Protection, Readiness for Practice Learning and Mental Health Collaborative Learning Initiative. As part of the DiBL Management and Development Group, he also works with the University's Centre for Academic and Learning Development (CLAD).  He is jointly responsible for delivering the DiBL training programmes that aim to equip academic staff with the technical and pedagogic knowledge and skills required to promote the University's vision for flexible, blended, enquiry-based learning.

The following film illustrates how he has used Facebook and Enquiry-based Blended Learning to help students explore personal and professional boundary issues in social work.

Tarsem's research interests include the exploring potential of enquiry-based blended learning for interdisciplinary professional education, the impact of mobile technologies on the development of professional practice and the use of asynchronous learning technologies in encouraging professional reflection. He is currently exploring the potential of 360 degree immersive videos for professional education.

Tarsem is also a member of an ESRC funded research project exploring how social workers begin, develop and sustain relationships with children, or not, over time. He is working with colleagues from the Universities of Nottingham, Sheffield and Auckland.

Tarsem represents the College of Social Sciences on the University's Learning Environment Group and the Information and Technology Infrastructure Group.  He has also been responsible for co-writing the College of Medical and Dental Sciences e-Learning strategy. Tarsem is a member of the Social Care Institute for Excellence's e-Learning Materials Advisory Group; a member of the Steering Group as well as CEIMH co-investigator for the JISC funded SWAPBox Social Work and Social Policy Open Educational Resources Project.  Tarsem has also been a member of the steering panel for the Community Justice National Training Research into Open, Distance and e-Enabled Learning and Assessment, and a member of the e-Learning Sub-group for the Reform of Social Work Education and Training Practice Learning Project Group.  Tarsem is a board member of the British Journal of Social Work. Until recently he was also a member of Social Work Education Journal's Editorial Board. He has also recently contributed to the Open University's Enhancing Learning and Teaching through Technology podcast series.

Journal Publications:

Knowles, A., and Cooner, T.S. (2016) International Collaborative Learning Using Social Media to Learn about Social Work Ethics and Social Media. Social Work Education, 35(3) pp 260-270.

Cooner, T.S., Knowles, A. and Stout, B. (2016) Creating a mobile app to teach ethical social media practices. Social Work Education, 35(3) pp 245-259.

Cooner, T.S. (2014) Using Facebook to explore boundary issues for social workers in a networked society: students’ perceptions of learning. British Journal of Social Work. 44(4), 1063-1080 

Wagstaff, C, Rose, J, Tew, J, Cooner, T.S. and Greening, J (2013), Qualitative evaluation of learning between different professional groups. Journal of Mental Health Training, Education and Practice. 8(4) pp 219-228

Cooner, T.S. (2011) Learning to create enquiry-based blended learning designs: resources to develop interdisciplinary education. Social Work Education, 30(3) pp 312-330.

Cooner, T.S. (2010), Creating opportunities for students in large cohorts to reflect in and on practice: lessons learnt from a formative evaluation of students' experiences of a technology enhanced blended learning design.  British Journal of Educational Technology. 41(2) pp 271-286.

Cooner, T.S. and Hickman, G. (2008) Child Protection Teaching: students' experiences of a blended learning design. Social Work Education. 27(6) pp 647-657.

Cooner, T.S. (2005) Dialectical constructivism: reflections on creating a web mediated enquiry-based learning environment. Social Work Education. 24(4) pp 375-390.

Cooner, T.S. (2004) Preparing for ICT Enhanced Practice Learning Opportunities in 2010 – a speculative view. Social Work Education. 23(6) pp 731-744.

Doel, M. and Cooner, T.S. (2002) A Virtual Placement: The creation of an interactive, web-based program to prepare students for 'live' placement. Journal of Practice Teaching. 4(1) pp 71-89.

Selected publications:

Cooner, T.S. (2014) Using closed Facebook groups to teach social work skills, values and approaches for social media. In J. Westwood (ed) Social Media in Social Work Education. Critical Publishing, Northwich.

Cooner, T.S. (2011), User/Carer Involvement in Education: Why you should use Web 2.0 technologies. Burning Issues in Learning and Teaching about Mental Health. London: Health Sciences and Practice Subject Centre. Available from http://repos.hsap.kcl.ac.uk/content/m10253/1.2/occp13.pdf.

Cooner, T.S. (2010), Designing for enquiry: using Web 2.0 to enable mental health service user and carer involvement. In  Bromage, A., Clouder, L and Gordon, F. (eds), Inter-professional e-learning and Collaborative Work: Practices and Technologies.  Hershey; USA: IGI Global.

Cooner, T.S. and Wagstaff,C. (2008) Learning Together: Reflections on developing an online assessment skills workbook for health and social care students. In S. Walker, M, Ryan and R. Teed (eds) Designing for Learning, University of Greenwich, London.

Online resources:

Combining Facebook and enquiry-based blended learning to teach social media skills