'Lecture Slump' denotes the prevailing tendency for lecture attendance statistics to 'slump' in the middle of a course. At the start of term, students are fresh and ready to learn, so attendance statistics are highest. They gradually fall until the middle of the term, where they reach their lowest point. Towards the end of the term, attendance gradually picks up again as assignment deadlines become imminent, and students start attending lectures in a search for help. Our Further AI lecturer, Jianfeng Feng, actually modelled this tendency on a graph that he displayed in his first lecture. He cunningly then proceeded to tell us that he would schedule our assignments so they were issued in the lectures when attendance was lowest, so that we would have a greater incentive for attending.
'Lecture Slump' can also be used to describe the physical posture adopted by students attending a lecture. The distance between the students forehead and the desk in front, is a measure of the students interest in the lecture. Thus for distances of 0 (head upon arm position) student has no interest in the lecture, up to distances of a metre (sitting up straight position) for full attention.(1)
(1) This measure can be corrupted by the strange people who take notes in lectures. It also relies upon the student being physically present, not 50 meters away from the lecture hall, down the pub.
Sources:
Jianfeng Feng
Further AI Lecture,
Univ.of Sussex