I am familiar with “et al†to indicate that there are several writers being referred to in a citation, but the following use is a new one for me.
To replicate the normal class discussion in an online class, instructors will post a question that the students must respond to within a certain amount of time. They then are supposed to respond to a certain number of their classmates' responses by the end of the week. This creates several discussion threads that deepen the online learning experience.
In my current class, when the professor responds to someone's answer she writes, “Fred et al, don't you think that anthropology…†She only does this when she is responding to the answer with a question for the group and not just the initial student. She is saying “Fred (and others who may wish to answer) don't you think that anthropology…†I've never seen this use and my girlfriend said that it is “professorial slang.†What do you think?
Additionally, did I punctuate the ellipses properly?
Hi, Rick. Since the prof is just saying the Latin words for "and others," I can see why she might say that instead of saying, "Fred and all y'all." Or some such. 🙂
I just looked at the Chicago Manual of Style, which has more to say about ellipses than I ever thought possible. Looks like you'd want to punctuate those ellipses with spaces around the first two like this: "Fred (and others who may wish to answer) don’t you think that anthropology . . .”
Whew! For a moment there I thought the Prof wrote "Fred et Al," and since this is an anthropology class, I was thinking the worst . . . 
Yes, you had it confused with the anthropophagy class.
I'll be a little pedantic, but I was taught that "et al." was an abbreviation for "et alli".
Emmett