Students in advanced undergraduate chemistry laboratories are required to undertake a wide range of complex and multistep syntheses and analytical procedures, and prospective employers of chemistry graduates seek students with proven skills in these areas. Our approach has been to use video resources which are made available to students both ahead of, and during, their laboratory classes to assist with preparation and provide just-in-time self-help during the laboratory. In this study we evaluate the implementation of a user-focused strategy to improve students' laboratory skills and use a three-stage model, forethought, performance, and self-reflection, to assess the impact and effectiveness of these resources to complement the traditional laboratory teaching resources of laboratory manuals and laboratory teaching staff (demonstrators). Students demonstrated autonomous learning by engaging with the laboratory videos using both active and passive learning approaches. The benefits of our approach are especially evident for students who have English as a second language and students who identify with different learning preferences. Increased student grades and more effective staff-student supervision time requirements are evident across both third-year undergraduate chemistry courses in which these videos were implemented.