Course Widgets for an ILT

For ILT courses the description appears at the top of the page (below the banner) by default..can you share a screen shot of what you are seeing?

Short answer: no, course widgets can't be repositioned on the course player or overview page. They're locked below the training materials / sessions area, and there's no configuration option to move them higher. The documentation you're likely referencing applies to custom widget pages (homepages, landing pages), where widgets can be freely rearranged — but that's a completely different context from course-level widgets.

I've hit this exact limitation with several organizations that had detailed course descriptions and additional fields they wanted learners to see right away. Here's what's consistently worked as a workaround:

Put your content directly in the course description field using HTML. The course description naturally sits above the sessions area, so anything you place there is the first thing learners see — no scrolling required. You can style it with basic HTML and CSS: headings, colored callouts, embedded images, the works. This gives you solid control over what appears front and center.

One more thing worth knowing: by default, the course description is collapsed behind a "Show More" button. You can force it to always display fully expanded with this CSS:

lrn-widget-content-description .ui-paragraph-content {
  max-height: unset !important;
}

Drop that into your custom CSS area (Admin Menu → Branding & Look → Custom CSS) and the description will render fully open every time — no extra click for the learner.

Between these two approaches — HTML-rich descriptions plus the always-expanded CSS — you can effectively achieve what a repositioned widget would give you, without waiting on a platform change.

More details on course widgets and layout: Managing the course layout and content. And here's the community thread on forcing the description open by default: Course Description – Fully Expanded.