Unfortunately there isn’t a super easy way to do blind marking via D2L Submission folders. This has been a feature request with D2L for a while, as we know that many instructors (and especially Law instructors) would especially benefit from this option.
However, there is a workaround method. It’s possible to download all the Submission folder submissions at once. They are compressed as a zip file, and when you open them on your computer you will see that each file has a 10 or so digit number at the beginning of its file name. The files will also initially contain student first and last names.
You could rename each of the files after download to only include that 10 or so digit number at the beginning, and then read and grade them. When you’re ready to re-upload the files to D2L, you can bulk upload them and they will automatically associate with the correct student based on that 10 or so digit number. The instructions for completing the bulk download and upload process are found here. Once the files are re-uploaded, you would have to go through and see which grade ended up associated with each student.
Another option – it is possible to do blind marking via the Quizzes tool in D2L. Could the assignments that you would like to blind mark be reformatted as written response (and other) quiz questions? If so, FITS is happy to build quizzes on behalf of instructors, so translating the assignments to the Quizzes tool is something we could help you do. If we built your assignments as quizzes so they could be blind marked, the one drawback is your options for providing feedback become much more limited. You cannot download the question responses and comment on them in Microsoft Word, for example, and instead would have to provide feedback in a designated “Feedback” text box beneath the question. You can read more about D2L Quizzes here.