Can I deduct tuition paid for an online course to become a claims adjuster? The course is independent study and is a total of 40 classroom hours.

Probably not.  You can only take an education credit or deduction for expenses paid to an eligible institution. The IRS defines this as follows:

Eligible educational institution.   An eligible educational institution is any college, university, vocational school, or other postsecondary educational institution eligible to participate in a student aid program administered by the U.S. Department of Education. It includes virtually all accredited public, nonprofit, and proprietary (privately owned profit-making) postsecondary institutions. The educational institution should be able to tell you if it is an eligible educational institution.

Certain educational institutions located outside the United States also participate in the U.S. Department of Education's Federal Student Aid (FSA) programs.

Here is a link to a list of eligible institutions.  You can also ask the school if their students qualify for federal student loan programs.

https://ifap.ed.gov/ifap/fedSchoolCodeList.jsp

Unfortunately, you also cannot take this expense as a job-related expense because the cost of preparing for a new job or career is not deductible.