In this era of information, traditional practices, technologies, skills, and knowledge are becoming obsolete at a much faster pace than ever before. This makes lifelong learning a necessity for everyone. An e-learning system is a promising solution to the demand for a flexible means of delivering knowledge to educate a large number of people over a vast area. Knowledge management systems (KMSs) are a fast growing area of research on the creation and sharing of knowledge. Agent-oriented software engineering is opening up a new horizon for the analysis and development of systems in an open, complex, and distributed environment. This article proposes a conceptual framework and architecture for the development of an agent-oriented e-learning system supported by knowledge management to provide a flexible, self-paced, and collaborative learning environment with the least constraints. The framework is based on the technologies of e-learning systems, multi-agent systems (MASs), and KMSs. The proposed system architecture consists of three levels: user level, domain level, and Web level. The system will provide all of the basic teaching- and learning-related support facilities, plus some enhanced features that are provided by the agents within the system. The system will also provide the facilities for capturing and sharing the knowledge created during utilization of the system. Finally, conclusions and the potential theoretical and practical implications of the proposed system are presented.
