In this study, we address the research problem of transitioning from face-to-face to distance teaching in a university setting during the COVID-19 pandemic. We based our study on an analysis of 34 in-depth semistructured interviews with teachers of the Faculty of Arts at Masaryk University, in which these teachers reflected on their approaches to online distance teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic. We show that the way the teachers approached the teaching was strongly linked with their conception of teaching and the way they construct the concept of good higher education. According to the analysis of the interviews, we distinguish two polar types of teachers. The first type are functionalists, who focus on passing on knowledge and skills to students. During the pandemic, using judicious pedagogical analysis, they strove to best replace the various components of face-to-face teaching with digital tools and applications. They believe that quality online teaching is challenging, but feasible and potentially bringing new features to higher education. The second type identified were authenticators, who understand teaching as a creation of knowledge and skills in the process of authentic communication between teacher and students. These teachers believe that online tools do not make it possible to adequately replace face-to face classes and perceive the transition to distance learning as a major threat to quality and to the mission of higher education in general.

The article is based on research aimed at exploring how teachers from the Faculty of Arts at Masaryk University integrated digital technologies into their teaching in connection with the transition to emergency remote teaching. The main research question was aimed at identifying the role played by peer learning among university teachers in integrating digital technologies into higher education teaching. The data were collected through in-depth semi-structured interviews with 34 teachers from the Faculty of Arts at Masaryk University in the fall semester of 2020. The results indicate that although teachers valued the support of a technological workplace, they more strongly considered consultations with and advice from their colleagues. I identified four main roles played by peer learning among university teachers in integrating digital technologies into higher education teaching. The roles are: offering emotional support, understanding needs, providing intelligible advice, and mediating experience. I also address two limitations to peer learning that need to be considered: the limited variety of technological tools and fragmented and unsubstantiated procedures. Studies have repeatedly shown that peer learning plays a long-term role in the process of integrating and adapting technologies into higher education; however, until now we have lacked information on the significance of peer learning for teachers in integrating digital technologies and on its limitations, both of which I address in this study.

In this paper, I deal with the question of how university teachers perceive and evaluate their pedagogical development. I originate from a qualitative analysis of 9 in-depth semi-structured interviews with teachers from different faculties of Masaryk University who participated in a two-semester educational program aimed at increasing pedagogical competencies organized by the university. The respondents draw attention to the lack of educational opportunities to support pedagogical competencies, identifying several areas in which they would like to develop. That is why they had applied for a program organized by the University. As a part of this program, it wasn‘t the intensive full-time course led by experienced lecturers that teachers evaluated as the best, but a collaboration with a mentor they chose from their colleagues on their own. These findings are discussed in the context of current efforts of higher education institutions to achieve excellence in teaching.