James Lee

Eric Merrill

Moodle and PHP Developer

Contact Me

About Me

My name is Eric Merrill, and I am a PHP and JavaScript developer from Southeast Michigan. I specialize in Moodle development, with 14 years doing Moodle related coding. Beyond that, I have an additional 5 years of experience developing and selling Mac software.

I have both a Bachelor's and Master's degree in Computer Science. I started Moodle development in 2006 working for Oakland University. I am responsible for maintaining multiple Moodle sites with well over 30,000 users, writing plugins, and fixing bugs.

I maintain an active presence in the Moodle developer community, including participation in POET and the Moodle Users Association, which can be a great resource when working issues.

I particularly enjoy finding and fixing bugs and performance problems in Moodle core, and seeing those fixed move back into Moodle.

Services Offered

Core Bug Development

With over 120 resolved core tickets resolved, and 300+ commits in core code, I have extensive knowledge and experience working Moodle core code bugs. From locating the sources of defects and performance problems, to creating integratabtle solutions.

I also have detailed experience working with Moodle HQ to move issues through the integration process and land them in Moodle core.

I place particular value in core development, and offer my services at discount rates for projects intended for core integration.

View my resolved core tickets

Plugin Development

Across the years I have developed nearly every type of plugin, from mods and blocks, to cache stores and grade reports.

I can develop custom plugins to suit your needs. Whether it be integrations with external services, or new question behaviors.

Core Modification

While not ideal, sometimes problems require the modification of Moodle core. My in-depth knowledge of core systems and APIs means I can help guide to reasonable and maintainable solutions.

General Consultation and Development

I offer my services as an experienced Moodle developer and system administrator, reviewing configurations, brainstorming, and offering recommendations for behaviour and performance issues.

Recent Public Projects

LMB NXT Open Source

Next generation Banner integration plugin, built with modern Moodle conventions and coding practices.

View on GitHub

WebEx Meeting Activity Open Source

A full featured Moodle activity module that integrates with Moodle. Meeting creation, joining meetings, and recording management all happen within Moodle.

View on Moodle.org

memcache(d) Clustered Cache Store Plugins Open Source

A pair of plugins for read-heavy, write-light caches that allow for split frontend memcached stores.

I successfully integrated the features of these plugins into core in Moodle 2.8. See MDL-42071 for details.

View on Moodle.org

Banner/Luminis Message Broker Open Source

Enrollment plugin that allows for the ingestion of user, course, and enrollment data from Ellucian Banner. Includes support for real time messages.

View on Moodle.org

Work Experience

Learning Management Programmer
Oakland University (2006 - Present)

I am the senior Moodle programmer and administrator, helping to maintain and improve several large installs. Responsibilities include new feature development, bug fixes, database maintenance, site administration.

Lecturer
Oakland University (2014 - Present)

I teach undergraduate level Computer Science classes on a regular basis. Specializing in web and interactive programming topics.

My GitHub

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