I am so sorry to admit that I have been a classmate at both ends of the spectrum... I attended a workshop where "machines were furnished." The machine was one waaaay more advanced than my home machine. I was the pest who kept asking the proficient one for help throughout the day.
And then I attended a class where my neighbor did not know how to operate her machine (It was a bargain she bought and had never learned to use.). The instructor spent most of the class teaching the woman to use her machine -- which was an odd off-brand -- and a great portion of the class on her cell phone reprimanding her kids who were squabling at home alone.