Social Media Learning Under Constraint: A Conceptual Framework for Higher Education

Social media platforms are increasingly implicated in higher education learning, yet dominant models of technology-enhanced learning continue to privilege institutionally managed systems, stable infrastructures, and formally designed platforms. Such assumptions limit conceptual understanding of how learning is organised and sustained in contexts where institutional provision is fragmented and digital infrastructure is unreliable. This article addresses this gap through a conceptual analysis of social media-supported learning under conditions of constraint. Drawing on sociocultural learning theory, networked learning perspectives, and scholarship on micro-learning, the article develops the Constraint-Responsive Social Media Learning Framework (CR-SMLF). The framework conceptualises learning as an emergent sociotechnical process shaped by contextual constraint, platform ecologies, networked peer practices, and temporally fragmented engagement. Constraint is positioned not as a temporary disruption or deficit, but as a structuring condition that shapes participation and the organisation of academic support. The analysis is anchored in the Liberian higher education context as an analytically revealing setting rather than an empirical case or basis for generalisation. The article does not propose a new learning theory, but offers a configurational framework that advances a context-sensitive lens for understanding social media-supported learning in fragile higher education systems.