The easiest way to do this is with .not()
var element = $(".module-panel", this.el);
$('.module-panel').not(element).hide();
Using :not() is entirely possible as well, and although the difference is miniscule, if there are multiple elements you're matching against, it could make a difference for the favorable CSS3 selector :not().
jQuery creates a method .not() which filters out any element passed to it. CSS3 has a pseudo selector :not() which allows the browser to do the work, making it slightly faster, but not as versatile.
Test results here: http://jsfiddle.net/iredmedia/jPNYK/
The reason your query doesn't work is because you are concattenating a jQuery object into a query string. In order to make your query work, you must pass it a specific element id/class string, as in
var element = '.doNotReturn',
excluded = $('#eltFamily:not(' + element + ')').nextMethod();
Hope this helps you understand :not() vs .not();
element.show()afterwards$('.module-panel').not(element)