This 'wabbit' hard to chase down sometimes. :\ Assignment submissions in Media based courses will always be larger than others. Teachers play a part in such issues ... depending upon what the students are required to submit. Example: Digital Photography. Assignment requires the student to upload, right off the camera, 6 photos of 6 different camera settings ... that's one assignment. So if one thinks about that and could do estimations on space requirements for this one assignment, space required would, for sure, ballon. Note: I have seen such courses reach 90+ gig in size.
Good luck on convincing Teachers to rethink their assignments. ;)
'spirit of sharing', Ken