Hi, graphic design can mean a lot of things. Creating and preparing products to print is graphic design. Making webpages is graphic design (and yes, some sort of programming, too). Communicating beyond words is graphic design. ...and so on.
I guess you received the Graphic Designer's Digital Toolkit with the CD. To accomplish the assignments you don't need to purchase the programs, but at least you'll need to download the 30-day trial versions of them. You can find information about this task in your textbook.
...I'd be your study buddy, as I'm in this program, too.