I do this with web technologies but may be applicable to other areas as well:

1. Read tutorials if available, then books in that order. Not to be exhaustive but just to get more stuff into my head.

2. Do a small project that uses it.

3. Repeat from step 1 but with more info to digest and a slightly bigger project to work with.

After some 4-5 iterations I would have a nice grip on the technology and a handful of small projects to show with.