I've only taken two quilting classes - one on binding and one on paper piecing. Both at my LQS with different instructors for each. I preferred the style of the binding teacher/class vs the pp'ing class but both were very beneficial. I am a self-taught quilter after years of garment and home dec sewing and watching Alex Anderson on TV.
Both were very hands on classes. I was having difficulty with visualizing both of those parts of the quilting world so they were very helpful. The binding class had a very good hand out. The pp'ing one had no hand out but that was okay. For me, just having someone show me what part was not 'clicking' was sufficient. A pattern and fabric supply was required for that class but it was okay as I have a beautiful top to eventually figure out how to quilt. The supply list for the binding class struck me as simply a way for the shop to get some extra $$ at the time but it was okay. Could have been accomplished with stating to 'bring your own sample consisting of x'.
Both instructors had very different styles. Their general personalities are different as night and day and that was reflected in their teaching methods. Neither bad, just different.