The accelerated digitalization of higher education, catalysed by global shifts in technology and learning demand, requires universities not only to integrate advanced tools into coursework but also—crucially—to strengthen faculty competence in digital pedagogy and education; raising these competences is now widely recognised by European and international frameworks (e.g., DigCompEdu) as a prerequisite for sustainable, learner-centred innovation. Responding to this mandate, the University of Florence has played a key role in the National Recovery and Resilience Plan project “Digital Education Hub – Advanced Learning Multimedia Alliance for Inclusive Academic Innovation” (ALMA), a consortium of fourteen Italian universities dedicated to creating high-quality online professional-development and lifelong-learning pathways. Within ALMA, five open two-hour webinars and four self-paced miniMOOCs were conceived and released: three webinars offered an articulated exploration of artificial intelligence in higher education, progressing from conceptual underpinnings and ethical-legal constraints to hands-on demonstrations of prompt engineering, generative-AI content curation, and discipline-specific case studies; the formative-assessment webinar showcased live polling and student-response platforms; the strategic webinar on digital transition illustrated institutional change models and new challenges. The two pedagogically oriented MOOCs guided participants through backward design of online and blended courses, while the technical MOOCs delivered step-by-step mastery of Moodle, covering course architecture, grading workflows, sandbox exercises, and peer-discussion forums. A satisfaction survey assessing technical usability, content quality, perceived relevance, and overall value was completed by 469 participants (438 webinar attendees, 31 MOOC learners), particularly concerning the webinars on educational applications of AI. Respondents reported high levels of clarity, engagement, and professional growth, highlighted the practical exemplars drawn from the Florentine context, and voiced interest in more advanced iterations; technical obstacles were negligible. These preliminary findings indicate that targeted webinars and MOOCs can effectively engage academic staff, cultivate the digital competences essential for twenty-first-century teaching, and ultimately elevate the quality and inclusivity of university education; high interest was shown in the area of AI, indicating emerging training needs. Future longitudinal research will investigate the sustained impact of these interventions on disciplinary learning outcomes and student achievement.

Keywords: Pedagogic innovation, digital education, higher education, faculty development.