Hello, @poneal1 
You are correct that in the Canvas Community, you can only send messages to someone you are following who is also following you (as described in How do I send direct messages to people in the community?). And, in your Canvas course, you can only send a message through the Inbox to someone who is enrolled in your course. I'm just guessing here, but I suspect that the task that was set before you in your Canvas training was to send a message, using the Canvas inbox, to one of the instructional designers at your school who is enrolled in your course. Follow the instructions in How do I send a message to a user in a course in Conversations? to send a message to a designer enrolled in the training course so that you can get clarity on the parameters of the assignment.
Hope this helps! Please post back to let us know the results. If it turns out that you do actually have to send a message to someone in the Community, let me know, and we can follow one another. 
You are perceptive Stefanie 
That is one of our IDT assignments.
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