The author
A game made in the classroom, for the classroom. And an open one: if you use it, improve it or adapt it, I'd love to hear about it.
Hello, I'm José Miguel
I am a tenured lecturer (profesor titular) in Financial and Tax Law at Pablo de Olavide University in Seville. Much of my work consists of explaining why we pay taxes, who should pay how much and what we all do together with the money that is collected.
A State in Class grew out of a simple idea: these questions are easier to understand when you live them. When a student gets to be the CEO or the delivery rider, when they have to vote for a tax that costs them money, or watch a public service save them – or not – at the Midlife Crossroads, Article 31 of the Spanish Constitution stops being a text to learn by heart and becomes a conversation.
Career
- Degrees in Law and in Business Administration and Management from Pablo de Olavide University.
- PhD in European Tax Law at the Scuola di Alti Studi Tributari of the University of Bologna.
- Since 2023, tenured lecturer at Pablo de Olavide University.
Teaching and innovation
My teaching has received commendations for teaching excellence, and I have led teaching innovation projects at my university. But for me, innovation is not a one-off project: it is how I teach every day, making sure students take part, argue and decide, rather than just listen.
I believe in gamification as a complementary learning strategy. It does not replace explanation or study, but it helps what has been explained to be better understood, remembered and discussed. A State in Class grew out of that way of working.
Research
I won't bore you with my research interests or my 80-plus publications: if you're curious (or can't sleep), they're all on ORCID.
I currently co-direct the TRIPLADIG research project and am the founder of the Food Taxation Network, which already brings together nearly 30 researchers from more than 15 countries.
Open science
The game and its materials are open. The materials are licensed under Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0: you may copy, print, adapt and translate them for your classes. They are archived in Zenodo with a permanent DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.23933606 (in Spanish; the English versions will be added). The game's code is available on request for teaching or research use: write to me from the contact page.
Tell me how it went
A game gets better by being played. Whatever happens in your classes helps me fine-tune the rules and the materials.
I'd be delighted to receive:
- Photos of your games: of the table, the projector, the whiteboard after the debate.
- Suggestions about the rules, the roles or the materials.
- Comments from your students: what made them think, what they found unfair, what they would vote differently.
- Adaptations and translations you have made, so they can be shared with other teachers.
- Mistakes you find, however small.
Write to hola@estadoenclase.es or use the contact form.
A request about photos: if they show students who are minors, please make sure they can't be recognised (from behind, hands only, or with their faces covered), or that you have their families' permission. With that, I'll be delighted to see them and, if you allow me, to share them.