At the Sabin Skills Center, in an introductory AutoCAD class, high school students do both. At the beginning of the school year, when everyone was an AutoCAD novice, there was group instruction using the Robotel system. This system allows the instructor to control the video on all thirty work stations and do demonstrations for all to see. If you've joined the growing ranks of AutoCAD users, then you know that it's not the most intuitive program around.
Students do struggle.
Most students turn to the person next to them to get help or share their discovered techniques. All students, to a certain extent, are learning to teach themselves by trying things and seeing if they work. They've done mechanical drawings, including dimensioning with tolerances, and a set of working drawings for a small cabin, including the site plan. Now they're on to a project that really demands thought and AutoCAD skills. From a development plan, each student chooses a site for building their own house.