I have more than one machine and depending on which one I'm using, I always have to re acquaint (sp?) myself with that particular machine. None of my machines are fancy mind you just depends my mood and "who" is on the table at the moment !
I took a beginning quilting class at LQS and was so surprised that one of the women there didn't have a clue about her machine......guess your instructor had run into this before and offers to cut some of the pain by offering tips on operating ! There was another woman there that didn't even own a machine and had to use one of the shops.....almost drove me crazy ! (crazier?)