No, you only need access to the internet. There might be discussions, puzzles, or creativity-related assignment options, but none of those will require any special talent. You will only need to express your opinion through an art form and show some effort.
In order to earn a quill in this class, you must manage at least an A (Acceptable) grade, which means you need 150+ house points in a term, no exceptions.
Yes, just like in the canon books, you can get the following grades: Outstanding, Exceeds Expectations, Acceptable, Poor, Dreadful, Troll.
You have the opportunity to earn up to 300 house points per term. Each term there will be 4 homeworks (30 points each), 4 extra credits (30 points each), an exam (30 points) and a project (30 points). This means by the end of the year you can earn 600 points!
Note: If for accessibility reasons you can't complete an assignment, please let me know, and together we'll find an appropriate alternative for you. You can contact me through a HOL Forum PM or an email to my personal address (cosmob@gmail.com).
Breaking any HOL rules (which are nicely explained in the Handbook), will first earn you negative house points, and if your behavior doesn't change, you will be dropped from this class.
Please submit class work to: hogwarts@cosmoschaise.co.uk with the following title: Castle [Name of Work] - [HOL Name]. For example, if I submitted the first homework I would write: Castle Assignment 1 - Prof. Cosmo B. Mott. Though, always remember to include your HOL Name and house somewhere in your e-mail, too. [Because belts and suspenders are cool.]
When appropriate, yeah, attachments are fine. In fact, if it's the option between an attachment or a link to a picture, I'd prefer the attachment. I mean, we've all lived through the Photobucket debacle, right?
You know what? As much as I love HOL, we can all admit that there are many things that can and should have priority over it, so I trust that you have a reason to need an extension. And the assignment due dates are basically suggestions, anyway. Just as long as you get things turned in by January/June 15th (term-depending, obviously), you're fine.
Let me be frank with you: you probably won't get your points until very late in January/June. I know, I know, it's not cool having to wait for your points. Every term I think, This is it. This is the time when I'll grade things regularly, in a timely fashion. But it hasn't happened yet, and I doubt it will happen this term. But who knows? At least know that, if you haven't dropped the class before the end of term, you will get your points by term's end.
And if you need verification of participation for something, I mean... I got you. Just let me know.
Yes, this class offers 3 HOL awards, awarded in the spring term.
Assignments 1-4, as well as the midterm exam and project, are eligible for points during the fall term (September-January), and Assignments 5-8, the final exam, and final project are eligible for points during the spring term (February-June). This is a HOL-wide policy, so there's nothing I can do about that. So if you join the class in February, you can do the spring term assignments; you can also sign up in the fall to cover the fall term assignments. If you join the class in months beyond September or February, you are welcome to do any and all assignments for that term.
Please feel free to send me a PM at the HOL Forum or an email to my personal account (cosmob@gmail.com) if you have any questions. Why my personal email? Because I have that accessible on my phone; if you submit a question to the class email, I may not see it immediately. There is also a suitable thread for that purpose at the Class Forum (which, again, I may not see immediately).
The used sources for the information you'll find on this website are:
The Harry Potter book series
The Harry Potter movies
Pottermore
Pottermore Wiki
Harry Potter Wiki
The Harry Potter Lexicon