1.) An Avatar is a little character that represents you online.
2.)You might use an avatar in your personal life by going on different websites for just having fun. You might use it in your educational career so you don't have to post a picture, just the avatar of what you think represents yourself. You might use it for Business in a powerpoint for examples and such.
3.) Yes i have used an avatar prior to this class. I used it on Yahoo Avatars.
4.) On the GoAnimate it would not load so i did not get a chance to create an avatar on that website. On Clay Yourself i liked that one because it gave you a variety of different options. But my favorite was the Voki because it was so much easier to use than the other two. It loaded easily, and it was more convenient.